International Itinerant Seminar Held in Poland, Czech Republic on 25th August- 3rd September

May 10, 2017

From Thursday 25 ^th August to Saturday 3 ^rd September 2016, in joint sponsorship with the International Cultural Centre in Krak��w, Poland, TUFS held the 'International Itinerant Seminar' on the national and cultural heritage of the European borderlands. The seminar is held biennially, and this year it focused on the region of Silesia.

On 25 ^th August, the seminar began with a lecture at the International Cultural Centre in Krak��w, which was followed by Micha? Wi?niewski and ?ukasz Galusek of the same research centre, who held discussions while venturing into training and investigations in various areas of Silesia. Under the detailed guidance of the local researchers and guides, the roughly 20 who comprised the Japanese group investigated various areas in Silesia, which shares a boarder and whose history is intricately tied with Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, from its churches, town halls, plazas, castles and museums to industrial areas, mines, steel mills and workers' housing, as well as the remains of Nazi forced labour camps. Over the course of the event, there was a joint seminar with the University of Wroc?aw history research department; an on-site lecture by Prof. Ryszard Nakoneczny of Engineering College of Mechatronics in Katowice and Prof. Eva Chojecka of the Polish Academy of Sciences; a lunch meeting held with Rafa? Dutkiewicz, mayor of Wroc?aw; and a lively exchange of opinions, and it became an extremely valuable event for collaborative research.

This year's International Itinerant Seminar w as held in coordination with the Research Institute for International Cultures by the "New Concept of European History from Viewpoint of Historical Experiences in Borderlands" project of the Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers implemented by TUFS, a nd was attended by 4 researchers from TUFS including Prof. Shinohara Taku, project representative

Wroc?aw town hall, one of the venues for the International Itinerant Seminar

In front of monastery in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a World Heritage Site.	Joint seminar with the University of Wroc?aw history research department
A visit to the steel mill in V��tkovice, Ostrava	Kamieniec Z?bkowicki Castle, designed by the architect Schinkel