On Friday, December 19, the second edition of the competition for the president’s award for the best master’s or doctoral theses on the history and contemporary life of our city was decided in the Councilors’ Hall. The competition was open to works defended during the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 academic years at all public and private universities in Poland.
The first prize (PLN 3,000) was awarded to Katarzyna Pielech from Polkowice for her work “Emigration and the Life of Poles in Bosnia in 1890–1946,” written under the supervision of Professor Stanisław Bereś (University of Wrocław, Faculty of Philology, Department of Journalism and Social Communication). The jurors decided that the work “impressively presents the history of the city’s residents who formed ties with it after nearly 50 years of emigration in Bosnia. Its main strength is the result of direct research conducted through interviews, which expands existing knowledge about Polish emigrants to Bosnia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and re-emigrants who returned to Poland from Bosnia in the 1940s and settled mainly in Bolesławiec County.”
The woman from Polkowice chose this subject for a reason. Her mother’s parents also came from the former Yugoslavia. The master’s thesis by Katarzyna Pielech included 11 interviews with people who were born in Bosnia. “They were pleased that someone was returning to this subject. People in Lower Silesia very rarely talk about Yugoslavs. More often, they talk about the Kresy settlers, Lemkos and newcomers from central Poland,” says the first-prize winner. “The work is moving, and the witnesses’ accounts are absolutely original contributions. I believe they will impress every resident of this region,” adds her supervisor, Stanisław Bereś.
According to the competition jury, composed of Robert Masztalski, Grzegorz Strauchold, Ryszard Brol, Jerzy Zieliński and Maciej Małkowski, the young journalist’s work was best suited for publication. The text has already been published. “This is my first publication and a great distinction,” Katarzyna Pielech told the IstotneInformacje.pl portal. “I am testing myself as a writer. There are many subjects I would like to take up in the future. But for now, my priority is finding a satisfying job.”
Second place went to Aneta Kraśnicka for “A Project for an Air Protection System for Bolesławiec,” defended at Wrocław University of Technology (Faculty of Environmental Engineering). “I assessed the level of air pollution in the city and prepared a forecast for the coming years,” says the second-prize winner (PLN 2,000). “The pollution level is not high, but the forecast shows that, for the sake of our health, it should be reduced,” she adds.
The third prize went to Marcin Ochmian from Bolesławiec, author of “An Analysis of the Investment Activities of the Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec, with Particular Emphasis on Investment in Tourism Infrastructure” (Agricultural Academy in Szczecin, Faculty of Economics and Organization of Food Economy). In justifying their decision, the jury members wrote: “The value of this work lies in its strong source-based and iconographic foundation, pointing to necessary investments that, over time, could make Bolesławiec a significant center on the tourist map of at least Lower Silesia.”
“My intention was to show what should be done so that a tourist passing through Bolesławiec would want to stay here for a day or two,” says the winner. “The most important thing is promotion. Stickers on license plates are probably the best and cheapest promotion of the city that has been devised in Poland. Wherever I go, everyone asks where Bolesławiec is.”
According to Marcin Ochmian, our city is definitely worth promoting. “It is the pearl of Lower Silesia. But few people know that they can find more here than just ceramics,” he says. The third-place winner works at a bank in Warsaw but, as he emphasizes, is always happy to return to Bolesławiec. “When Christmas approaches, people come here from Great Britain, Ireland, Wrocław and Szczecin. It is a city of meetings,” he adds.
(GA report)