Daemen University’s History and Political Science Department hosted Piotr Klodkowski, a professor and former Polish Ambassador to India, at a reception in Rosary Hall on May 11 where he met with President Gary A. Olson, members of the cabinet, faculty and staff, and students.
Klodkowski was in town to give a presentation on the Russian war on Ukraine and its impact on Central Europe and the European Union at the Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center in Buffalo.
He said his hometown of Rzeszow, Poland, which is a sister city of Buffalo, is about 52 miles from the Ukrainian border and has accepted almost 100,000 refugees since the war started in February 2022.
Despite a difficult past between the two countries, Klodkowski’s message to the Ukrainian and Polish communities in Western New York was one of unity.
“We should feel that we’re like, maybe not one nation, that we’re like brothers and sisters experiencing the same destiny,” Klodkowski said.
Klodkowski is currently a Kosciuszko Foundation Visiting Professor at the University of Rochester, where he teaches in the Department of Political Science. He’s also a professor at the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. From 2009-2014, Klodkowski served as the Polish Ambassador to India with diplomatic accreditations to Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.
His presentation at the Dnipro Center was co-sponsored by the Daemen University Center for Polish Studies.