Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for German-Polish social and cross-border cooperation
Minister Radosław Sikorski appointed prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz as Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Polish-German social and border cooperation.
His main tasks will be:
1) formulating proposals for the improvement of German-Polish social and cross-border cooperation;
2) supporting and initiating measures for the development of German-Polish social contacts;
3) cooperating with the Coordinator for German-Polish Social and Border Cooperation;
4) supporting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in dialogue with the German side in the area of historical policy;
5) monitoring the state of implementation of the German-Polish House in Berlin and taking action to ensure that Polish interests are taken into account by the German side within the framework of this project;
6) engaging for a real increase in the availability of Polish language teaching in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz is a historian, German studies scholar, director of the Willy Brandt Centre for German and European Studies at the University of Wrocław and employee of the Historical Institute of the University of Wrocław.
He is a member of numerous international scientific bodies (e.g. Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Documentation Centre for the Culture and History of Poles in Germany; Member of the Board of the Stiftung Ettersberg. Europäische Diktaturforschung – Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur – Gedenkstätte Adreasstraße; member of the scientific council of the Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten). He is also a member of the presidium of the German-Polish Textbook Commission.
In 2023, he was awarded the Prize of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). The justification highlighted, among other things, his outstanding contributions to Polish-German understanding and the European idea. He also received the Golden Cross of Merit ‘for his services to the development of science’ (2011), the Cross of Merit on the Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany) ‘for his commitment to Polish-German friendship and his scientific work in this area’ (2019), and the Medal commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution and German Reunification ‘Sachsen – Land der Friedlichen Revolution’ for special contributions to Polish-German relations and civic engagement (2021).
He is the author of numerous scientific and popular publications on German history and Polish-German relations, especially after 1945. He has promoted 16 PhD students in Poland and Germany.
Source: www.gov.pl
