Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz of the WBZ UWr. has been elected as a member of the curatorship of the Documentation Centre "Culture and History of Poles in Germany". The curatoship is formed of representatives of the Polish community, from culture and the media.
For many years, it has been the aim and the wish of the Centre to preserve and document the fates of Polish immigrants in Germany.
The main task of the curatorship is to form, to support and to counsel the Centre. This is one of the most important projects dedicated to the German Polonia in recent years.
The founding act creating the Documentation Centre "Culture and History of Poles in Germany" was solemnly passed in late June 2013 and thus the Polish cultural and educational landscape in Germany has been enriched by a new, important branch.
The decision to found the Centre was made on the 20th anniversary of the Polish-German treaty on good neighborliness and cooperation.
Director of the Centre is the cultural scientist and exhibition curator Jacek Barski PhD.
By collecting, studying and conveying documents and historical items, the Centre will contribute to fulfill a gap that existed so far in the field of research and to popularize Polish history and culture in Germany. It is to be a forum for the exchange of information about Polish history, culture and organizations in Germany.
In order to achieve this end, it is planned to found an internet portal named "Porta Polonica", which is formed of several modules (for example an atlas of places of remembrance, a data bank containing biographical information about Poles in Germany and their organizations).
The seat of the Centre is in Bochum, in the oldest rooms of the Polonia-Organization in Germany, in the highly symbolic Polish House. This building, to be found under the address Am Kortländer 6, is seat of the Association of Poles in Germany, the so-called "Rodło" since 1922. With Porta Polonica, the Polish house will once again become a house of open doors, a place where Poles and Germans meet.