Poland: 20 Years of Freedom – Politics, Culture, Society

In 2009, CDK implemented a project called "Poland: 20 Years of Freedom - Politics, Culture, and Society" under the "Czech-Polish Forum" grant through the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Fronda publishing house (Warsaw) and Oœrodek Myœli Politycznej (Centre for Political Thought, Cracow) were among the Polish partners. The Polish Institute in Prague also cooperated on the project.

The project had three outcomes:

The publication of three Polish books in Czech

CDK presented all three books at the Book World Prague 2009 book fair, where it shared a stand with the Polish Institute in Prague.

Three lectures and discussions with book authors in Prague and Brno

• On 15th May 2009, CDK organised a discussion with Jadwiga Staniszkis and a presentation of the Czech translation of her book at the Polish Institute in Prague within the Book World Prague 2009 book fair.
• On 22nd October 2009, a seminar with Ryszard Legutko, entitled "Perspectives of the European Union" was held in Prague's Autoclub. The Czech President Václav Klaus moderated the event, which was organised through the cooperation of the Polish Institute in Prague, the Centre for Economics and Politics, and CDK.
• On 9th November 2009, Andrzej Chwalba presented a lecture for students of the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University and the general public on the topic of "Poland and Its Democratic Transition on the Edge of the Cold War". The event was organised by CDK, Masaryk University, and the Polish Institute in Prague.

A seminar in Kharkiv under the "Educational Institute for Democracy and Civil Society" project

A seminar on "20 Years of Freedom and Democracy - Culture and Politics. Differences in the Czech and Polish Experiences" was held between the 10th and 13th of September, 2009. The director of the Polish Institute in Prague, Maciej Szymanowski, participated on behalf of the Polish side. Approximately fifty participants were expected; in fact 120 people attended the seminar.

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All the author events met with the extraordinary interest of the participants. The seminar with Ryszard Legutko in Prague's Autoclub and the lecture by Andrej Chwalba at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno were both full. The books clearly interest a variety of readers - students, academics, and the broader public - and the events' attendance proves the Czech interest in Polish authors.

In light of the success of the project, CDK plans to continue to work with Polish authors. Several translations and seminars in the Czech Republic are being negotiated.