Adam Mickiewicz Archives - Public Seminar

Between erasure and reactivation

The following lecture was first presented as part of the Memory Study Network conference “Routes and Roots: Migration, Memory, Transnationality” at the New School for Social Research Festival of Ideas, on April 16, 2026. Let me begin with a proposition that may sound unsettling. Democracy does not disappear only when it is ...

Activism

A Halloween Uprising and Poland’s General Strike Over Abortion

A new generation of women rises up against an unholy – and sexist – alliance of church and state

November 6, 2020 • by Elzbieta Matynia

Poland’s Halloween has always been a solemn national holiday with pagan roots called All Souls Day, known long ago as Forefathers’ Eve, and immediately followed on November 1 by All Saints Day. Normally, it’s a contemplative period of reconnecting with those who are not with us anymore, whether grandparents, veterans, or ...