From 29 September to 1 October 2023 the 5th Congress of Community Archives took place in
Lublin. This event, organised by the Centre for Community Archival Studies, was this time entirely
focused on oral history. The Polish Oral History Association was a partner of the event.
Debates, discussions, workshops or presentations of oral history projects – these were just
some of the activities offered to participants who came to Lublin for the congress. The city
was specially selected as the venue. Lublin, home to the Grodzka Gate Centre – NN Theatre,
was one of the first cultural institutions in Poland to use the oral history method to rescue the
city’s unknown past in the voices of witnesses to history, while at the same time contributing
to building its identity. The congress itself took place in the buildings of the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University.
The rich programme of the event was not only aimed at in situ participants, but also those
who connected online. The congress was streamed live and a special workshop offer was
made for remote participants. The event was, as usual, an opportunity to exchange
experiences among community activists or researchers – a chance to talk about different projects
and perspectives. This year, the unusual dimension of this exchange of experiences was
highlighted by guests arriving from war-torn Ukraine. As the incoming representatives of oral
history organisations there assured, despite the conflict, oral history is still present in the
country.
It is also worth noting that the congress, attended by a total of almost 600 people (including
online), was held under the patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the
Mayor of Lublin and the Chief Director of the State Archives. The latter’s patronage seems
special, especially as it was on 30. September, during the congress, the annual ‘Archivist’s
Day’.
