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"Thanks to the Summer travel grant from the Center for Western Civilization, Thought and Policy (CWCTP), I was able to travel to Poland and take part in a 7-week, intensive Polish language course. My dissertation project, for the Department of History, focuses on space, race, and memory as embodied in the site of the former death camp of Treblinka. Since Treblinka existed in Poland (and the memorial still exists there today), almost all of the witnesses to the camp spoke, read, or otherwise communicated in Polish. Thus, my pursuit of learning Polish is directly related to my need to be able to understand primary sources existing in Polish.

The grant I received through CWCTP allowed me to travel to and attend the Varia Institute for Polish Language located in Krakow, Poland. The Varia program immerses students in Polish language training by way of daily classes (between four and five hours in length!) centered on rapid language development. Not only is this “immersion” experience a proven technique for quickly learning another language, but the intensiveness of such a program generally helps participants in the course form a lasting and productive bond of scholarship and friendship. Among many friends I made from all over the world, I also was able to connect with a teacher whose parents lived near the death camp at Belzec (another location in Poland). Through connecting with this teacher, I am currently arranging to meet with actual witnesses to Belzec and record their testimonies. All of these survivors are over 90-years-old, and so I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to make this connection through the Varia program to ensure these witnesses’ stories are preserved in the historical record.

Having started the course as nearly a “beginner” in terms of Polish, I left the seven-week course with an advanced reading and listening capability in Polish, as well as an adequate speaking proficiency. This increased capacity to handle the Polish language has already proven valuable in my enhanced ability to utilize primary sources in Polish, and I anticipate even further value in my future dissertation research, which will all need to be done in Polish archives. In this sense, not only did I accomplish my goal of learning Polish to utilize for research purposes, but I set myself up for continued progress towards my doctorate degree.

Aside from the language experience, the CWCTP grant allowed me the opportunity to experience the wonderful city of Krakow. With the time I was not in class at the Varia Institute, I was exploring the historic districts of one of the true cultural centers of Europe. My accommodations were within easy walking distance of the main town square, and I spent most of my free time exploring museums, bookstores, and the famed “Jewish quarter” of Krakow. Not only were these enjoyable experiences, often in the accompaniment of friends, but because of my research goals, they were often productive and fruitful learning experiences as well. For example, the “Jewish quarter” of Krakow is one of the best Jewish areas in all of Europe, and being able to walk among the Jewish restaurants and synagogues seemed for me to roll back the decades to catch a glimpse of how life looked throughout Jewish Europe before World War II.

Overall, I can truly say that my experience this summer vastly exceeded the expectations I had for not only learning Polish, but also for my scholarly and personal growth. It was not possible without the generous grant from CWCTP and I cannot express how thankful I am for the amazing opportunity afforded to me by such a generous program. I hope other students at CU take advantage of the resources and amazing opportunities provided by CWCTP in the ways I have."

-Jacob Allen Flaws