The Polish Diaspora Centre of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in Germany was inaugurated in Berlin. The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin has previously launched similar units in Paris and London.

Germany is the third country, after France and the UK, in which the KUL Polish Centre has established cooperation with embassies and Catholic missions. There are offices of the KUL Study Centre for Polish Communities and Poles Abroad in Paris and London. During a meeting at the Polish embassy in Berlin, an offer of 3 courses conducted as part of the Studies was presented. Classes in the form of lectures and workshops will begin in November.

“Berlin is becoming an important place for education, discussion and meetings, and for the development of the local Polish community. Together with the Catholic University of Lublin, we will be able to implement many new educational initiatives. The Polish community and Poles in Germany are the best ambassadors for Poland abroad, an environment rich in its diversity”, said Dariusz Pawłoś, the Polish ambassador in Berlin.

In his speech, the rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, Rev. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, assured that the presented educational offer for the Polish community is only a fragment of the university’s broad possibilities. He recalled that a Research Centre for the Polish Diaspora and Polish Chaplaincy operates at the Lublin university. The School of Polish Language and Culture will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“Through these activities, we want to thank the Polish community around the world for the support it has given to our university for so many years. Today, we want to return this goodness that we have experienced, and that is why, little by little, in various parts of the world, we are undertaking activities for the benefit of the Polish community”, said the rector of the Catholic University of the Catholic University of Lublin.

In a letter addressed to the participants of the ceremony, the rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Germany, Fr Dr Michał Wilkosz, expressed his hope that the increased presence of the Catholic University of the Catholic University of Lublin in Germany would contribute to the integration of the Polish community in that country and help to preserve the national identity of his compatriots in the pluralistic and multicultural German society.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński