About the project

The project was initiated in 2016. It's main goals was to present and talk about the situation of migration in Europe. We touched either historical aspects, but also we incorporated very recent problems. We were talking about subjects on different levels: Europe, our country and our city / region.

Before the meeting in Zamość meetings took place in:

  • Carcaixent: 07.2016
  • Feltre: 08.2016
  • Eeklo: 02.2017
  • Braunfels: 06.2017
  • Kiskunfélegyháza: 09.2017
  • Carcaixent: 11.2017
  • Newbury: 03.2018
  • Bagnols sur Cèze: 05.2018

The project has just ended. Meeting in Zamość in July 2018 was last one.

Evaluation meeting in Zamość

The main aim of the event was to evaluate the project activities and their impact on the project participants and the local communities. The main tool of assessment was a questionnaire produced by a member of the Polish group which was completed by members of all the committees and sent for analysis before the meeting. The results of the questionnaire were presented to all the participants by its author who demonstrated that there were different attitudes towards foreigners depending on the country and age of the respondents. It also turned out that there was a positive correlation between the fact of participating in the project and the attitudes of the involved persons. The results were discussed by the participants who also were free to express their personal opinions on the project and its topics.

See the presentation, that is summing up evaluation of the project.

Apart from evaluation, the meeting also had a wide informative and educational function. It was done through lectures given by local historians (3 speakers), meetings with political and local government figures and visits to places related to the area's multiethnic past. The topics presented during the lectures included the changing ethnic structure of the local population in the town's history, the destructive effects of World War Two and present day economic and political immigration from the ex-Soviet territories, especially Ukraine.

The speakers who addressed the meeting included the mayor of Zamosc, who talked about the economic and political aspects of immigration and emigration from the region as well as two members of the Polish parliament who represented opposing political parties and presented their points of view on the question of immigration at a more general level. The members of the audience asked questions and voiced their opinions which made the meeting very productive.

The participants were also met by the head of a local higher education college who talked about foreign students studying in Zamosc. His talk was complemented by a talk by an Ukrainian student who is currently studying in Zamosc. There was also a meeting with a few foreign workers most of whom were youth volunteers from Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Hungary who talked about their experiences as foreigners living in Poland.

The meeting was reported on the website of the city office and on local television which was an efficient way of dissemination. Apart from the members of the hosting organisation and the hosting families, there was a big number of local inhabitants who were informed about the project in detail through direct talks and leaflets produced by the organisers. The activities which involved members of the local community and helped disseminate the project included opening of an exhibition on Zamosc cultural heritage, opening of an exhibition of works by Tamas Szuts (head of the Hungarian team), visit to a local WW2 resistance museum and a visit to the Nazi Death Camp Memorial Site at Belzec.

In second part of this session, guest had an occasion to get knowledge about multiculturality of Poland, town and region in history. Also including tragic changes in demographic structure after World War II. Lectures were conducted by three historicians from Zamość and were met with big interest from recipients. For majority of them, it was first visit in Poland, but also first real meeting with Polish history. Political and economical problems, connected with migration were discussed during session in Consulatus Room of Zamość's Town Hall. Main participants of discussions were Polish parliamentary representatives: Jarosław Sachajko, Sławomir Zawiślak and also Mayor of Zamość Andrzej Wnuk.

See final report from project