Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies

Profile

Founded in July 2023, the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU) merges the Center for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies and the Chair for Entangled History of Ukraine into a new research institution at the European University Viadrina. The VCPU focuses on interdisciplinary research on Polish and Ukrainian history and the present day, as well as on the transfer of science-based and up-to-date knowledge about Poland and Ukraine to the public.

Interdisciplinary conferences, workshops, open lectures, summer academies, research trips as well as university lectures and seminars by the VCPU’s academic staff and international guest researchers, several publication series, an academic blog and a YouTube channel stimulate research on Poland and Ukraine and underline the special role of the Viadrina as a place of European intellectual exchange.

Große Scharrnstraße 59, DE 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
+49 335-5534 2445
vcpu@europa-uni.de
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Visitor address

Große Scharrnstraße 23a
DE 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Räume 301-311

News

"From Periphery to Partnership" - IPUS Vol. 17 just published

This volume presents interdisciplinary analyses of the social, economic, political and cultural consequences of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The authors address the issues of forced migration, adaptation to wartime conditions, and threats to humanitarian security, as well as the transformation of the state, economy and labour market.

Viadrina Expert Pool Ukraine

Looking for an expert on Ukraine? The Viadrina Expert Pool Ukraine offers the opportunity to specifically identify the Ukraine-related expertise of our scholars in a range of disciplines. This service offering is aimed at interested parties from the media, politics, education, and society. With this initiative, Europa-Universität Viadrina seeks to meet the increased demand for research-based knowledge about and from Ukraine. The establishment of the Viadrina Expert Pool Ukraine was made possible thanks to the support of the Marga and Kurt Möllgaard Foundation. Read more [in German]

Terra Transoderana regional history laboratory

The aim of the Terra Transoderana regional history laboratory is to enable people to experience and engage with regional history across the German-Polish border. The project, run by the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and the University of Zielona Góra, is receiving funding of around 920,000 euros over three years as part of the European Union’s Interreg VI A Brandenburg–Poland programme. As part of the project, educational formats, methods and practical resources for cross-border educational work on regional history are being developed and tested. German and Polish museums, schools and history initiatives are involved in this process. Read more [in German]

Wera Sassulitsch oder: Die Poesie der Revolution – a new book by Stephan Rindlisbacher

Vera Zasulich was an extraordinary woman in a male-dominated world. Her assassination attempt on the police commander of St Petersburg in 1878 brought her instant international fame. She later became one of the leading figures of Russian social democracy, co-founded the revolutionary newspaper Iskra, and translated key texts by Marx and Engels into Russian. In this volume, Stephan Rindlisbacher offers an insight into Zasulich’s remarkable life story.

“We created a community across borders” – Interview with Prof. Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast

Since 2014, Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast has been Professor of Interdisciplinary Polish Studies at the European University Viadrina’s Faculty of Business Administration and Economics. She also serves as Chair of the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU). But her connection to Viadrina goes back to its very beginnings: she was among the first students to enroll when the university was re-founded in 1992. In this interview, she talks about those pioneering years, her personal journey across borders, and the future of Viadrina as one of Germany’s most international universities.

Ab Imperio 2025 Annual Award for Stephan Rindlisbacher

We are proud to share that Stephan Rindlisbacher, a member of the VCPU academic staff, has received the Ab Imperio 2025 Annual Award for his book Borders in Red. Managing Diversity in the Early Soviet Union. This award is a significant recognition of his outstanding scholarship and of the book’s important contribution to research on diversity, borderlands, and governance in the early Soviet Union. We warmly congratulate Stephan Rindlisbacher on this remarkable achievement. More information is available at the extern link below.

Events

Jun

Monday 18.00

Petra Köhler (Berlin) und Olesia Lazarenko (Europa-Universität Viadrina) „Elisabeth Kottmeier und die ukrainische Literatur: Skizzen zum Porträt einer Übersetzerin“ [DE]

Research | Teaching | Transfer

Research

The research carried out at the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies is dedicated to Poland and Ukraine in a broad transregional context, considering the close entanglements – commonalities as well as conflicts – in this multi-layered contact zone. Recognizing the cultural and political agency of Poland and Ukraine, we treat our research as an integrative endeavor with a strategic interdisciplinary focus.

Teaching

In line with its research focus, the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies pursues the strategy of integrating Polish, Ukrainian, as well as Central and Eastern European studies into as many courses at the Viadrina as possible. For this reason, courses are generally offered in English and German, together with a number of seminars in Polish and Ukrainian, and are aimed at students from all three faculties at all levels of qualification – BA, MA and PhD.

Transfer

We want to share the results of our enquiries with the public. Scientifically based, trustworthy knowledge and information, especially about the complex situations and conditions in Central and Eastern Europe, are urgently needed in Germany. In order to transfer the findings of the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies projects into an enlightened public debate, we will further develop our existing formats.