Poland’s Cultural Relations with Middle-Eastern Arab Countries

Abstract

The article takes up the subject of Poland’s cultural relations with some Middle Eastern Arab countries, i.e. with Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Palestine in particular. It has been done in historical perspective, analyzing development of the connections, the determinants influencing the course of changes, and political events and processes that have been strengthening or weakening the ties. Despite the long geographical distance between Poland and the Middle East, the cultural ties have turned out to be astonishingly rich, which was so partly due to the idiosyncrasy of their history - abound with wars and full of dramatic transformations. The three-part text begins with a historic overview of the relations that have gained a momentum during the World War II and in the post-war decades. Part two concerns the relations on official diplomatic level, usually ending up in initialed agreements and exchanging official visits. And the last part scrutinizes the spontaneous grassroots links forged between groups, individuals and non-political institutions. In this case the links embrace the field of academia, education, high culture and private lives of individuals and families.

Keywords

• grass-roots cultural ties
• diplomatic ties and agreements
• middle-eastern arab countries
• poland
• intercultural relations