From the course website:

Week 1 – History of Polish Elections and the Revolutions of 1989 – From the election of kings in pre-modern Poland, a presidential election in 1922 that resulted in the murder of the winning candidate, the fixed elections of the 1940s that facilitated the Communist takeover after WW2 and the election of ’89 that effectively ended Communism.

Week 2 – Elections in Poland since 1989 – Over the past 31 years Poland’s citizens have established a new constitutional order for their country in place of the discredited communist-run autocracy that had been in place since World War II. In the process Poland has become a major contributor to the larger world of trans-Atlantic democracies through its partnership in NATO and the EU.

Week 3 – Important Anniversaries in Modern Polish History – the birth of the Solidarity movement in 1980, the victory of the Poles at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 and the birth of Pianist/Patriot Ignacy Paderewski in 1860.

About the speakers: 

Donald Pienkos is professor emeritus (political science) at UWM and chairs its Polish Studies Committee. He also directed UWM’s international studies major and Russian and East European studies program. As an instructor, Don taught courses on the politics and foreign policy of the Soviet Union, post-Soviet Russia, Eastern Europe, and the impact of immigration, race and religion in U.S. politics. He is published extensively in these areas. Don was actively involved in the successful citizen effort that resulted in 1999 with the entry of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary into NATO.

Neal Pease is professor of history at UW-Milwaukee, with a teaching/research/publication specialty in the modern history of Poland and East Central Europe. He is also a member of the UWM Jewish Studies committee, and editor in chief of “The Polish Review.”