Prof. Monika Bednarczuk from the Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok received a DAAD research scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service for a two-month stay in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany). During the internship she will deal with among others: literary transfers related to parapsychology and esotericism. The internship will start next spring.
At the invitation of prof. Sylvia Paletschek from the Institute of History of the University of Freiburg and prof. Jürgen Kornmeier and Eberhard Bauer from the Institute of Border Areas of Psychology and Psychohygiene (IGPP). The researcher from the University of Białystok will analyze the transfer of parapsychological knowledge and esoteric ideas from West Germany to the PRL as well as to a lesser extent, the relations between the NRD, the PRL and the ZSSR in this context.
The trip will enable me to conduct library and archival research and discuss some ideas and arrangements with German experts, whom I already had the opportunity to meet in person during a short visit to Freiburg in May 2023. It is worth adding that IGPP has one of the world's largest collections of books and magazines on parapsychology and esotericism, as well as the archive of Hans Bender, a famous researcher of psychic phenomena. Moreover, Eberhard Bauer was for many years professor's assistant. Bender, he met many people from the parapsychological community from that time and is happy to share his knowledge and memories - says prof. Monika Bednarczuk.
Prof. Monika Bednarczuk adds that in Freiburg there is a group of outstanding specialists in the history of occultism in Western and Central Europe after 1945: apart from prof. Sylvia Paletschek and Eberhard Bauer are dr Andreas Anton, dr Anna Lux and dr Ina Schmied- Knittel.
Prof. UwB Monika Bednarczuk works at the Department of Camparative Research and Editing. Her scientific interests include among others: connections between literature and politics in the 20th century, women’s writing and history, the processes of transfer of culture and science at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and esoteric subculture in PRL.
