Who are the Slowaks?
11.10.2004 - 12.10.2004
In 1994 the Slovaks began writing a new chapter in their history. It was in that year that an independent Slovak Republic was founded, and Poland got a new neighbour in the south: a nation akin culturally yet hardly known, the perception of which had often been warped by stereotypes. Yet over the centuries, contracts between Pols and Slovaks were not rare, as clearly showed by the conference Cultural Ties Between Poland and Slovakia Through the Ages organised at the International Cultural Centre 1995. Following up on the discussion with the southern neighbours started years ago, the ICC, together with the Embassy of Slovak Republic, organised another conference.
Conference photos
Magdaléna Vášáryová
She is a celebrated actress and diplomat. She graduated in sociology from the Philosophical Department at the Comenius University in Bratislava. She worked as an actress in “Divadlo na Korze” Theatre, Nová scéna [New scene] and the Slovak National Theatre (1971-1990). She gave up acting (both in theatre and cinema) in 1989. Subsequently, she served as an ambassador of Czechoslovakia in Austria (1990-1993) and of Slovakia in Poland (2000-2005). In 1993, she founded and supervised the non-governmental Slovenská spoločnosť pre zahraničnú politiku [Slovak Society for Foreign Policy] in which she actively acted until 2000. Since 1998 she has been a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Law Approximation at the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava which educates future diplomats. In 1999, she ran as a candidate in the first universal presidential elections. From 2005 to 2006 she was a Secretary of State in the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2006 and 2010, she was elected a member of the National Council on behalf of the Christian Democratic SKDU-DS (Slovak Christian and Democratic Union). In 2010, she ran as a candidate in the mayoral elections in Bratislava. She has published: Krátke listy jednému mestu [Short letters to one city] on her hometown Bańska-Szczawnica, Kto sú Slováci? História. Kultúra. Identita [Who are the Slovaks? History, culture, and identity] – a collection of essays co-edited with Professor Jacek Purchla, Polnočný sused about Poland and the Polish-Slovak relations. In July 2010, she received the Golden Medal of Gloria Artis.
Who are the Slovaks?
Collective work, Jacek Purchla, Magda Vášáryová (ed.)
This volume of essays by Slovak and Polish intellectuals grew out of a need to reduce a deficit of mutual understanding. It is a record of a debate that was held in autumn 2004 at the International Cultural Centre in Krakow, and an anthology of views of people of sciences, culture and politics on the past, present and future of one of Europe's youngest nations. The Slovaks have faced challenges that reflect, to some extent, former, current, and perhaps even future, European dilemmas. The lesson of that experience is, therefore, highly salutary.