What Trauma Tells Us About Ourselves as Nations – A Discussion with Asal Dardan and Jarosław Kuisz
Invitation
What Trauma Tells Us About Ourselves as Nations -
A Discussion with Asal Dardan and Jarosław Kuisz
Date: Monday, 24. November 2025
Time: 06 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Place: Polish Institute in Berlin, Burgstraße 27, 10178 Berlin
Do traumatic experiences shape nations and societies? If so, how? In the case of Poland, historical traumas seem to leave Poles fearful, anxious, and unhappy. Yet, in moments of crisis, these traumas enable them to mobilize and prepare to fight. Germany’s history of violence against ethnic and social groups has permanently raised questions about victimhood, guilt, and belonging.
History shapes our contemporary relationships, obsessions, and fears. What causes this, and how can one break free from it? Are we doomed to constantly remind ourselves of our difficult history? Is trauma passed down through generations? What does trauma reveal about Poles and Germans? What unites and divides us? How has history shaped our daily behaviors, fears, and obsessions? During the debate, Asal Dardan and Jarosław Kuisz will address these questions. Katharina Blumberg-Stankiewicz will moderate the evening.
Asal Dardan is a freelance essayist and writer. She holds degrees in cultural studies from the University of Hildesheim and in Middle Eastern studies from the University Lund. Her 2021 collection of essays Reflections of a Barbarian (Hoffmann und Campe, 2022) explores topics such as origin, exclusion, racism, and femininity. In her recent book Traumaland: Searching for Traces in Germany’s Past and Present (Rohwolt, 2025) she confronts entrenched German discourses on memory.
Jarosław Kuisz is an Editor-in-Chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna, Senior Fellow at the Zentrum Liberale Moderne. His book „The New Politics of Poland“ (Manchester University Press) was ranked among the best books of 2024, according to „Foreign Affairs”. In the last co-written book „Posttraumatic Sovereignty” (Suhrkamp, 2023) Kuisz focused on the history of Eastern Europe in the 20–21st century.
Katharina Blumberg-Stankiewicz, has been a researcher and lecturer at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) focusing on migration, in- and exclusion, and belonging. She lives and works as a freelance cultural scientist in Berlin, where she co-founded the initiative Between the Poles. Since 2022, she has co-curated the collaborative online repository Trauma Tables vs. Waiting.
We are looking forward to a timely discussion with you!
Best regards,
Your LibMod-Team
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