The College of Eastern Europe was founded in 2001 on the initiative of Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. He convinced the authorities of Wrocław, the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław, as well as the Krzyżowa Foundation and the Angelus Silesius Meeting House, of the idea.
The idea of establishing a foundation dealing with the countries that once made up the former Republic of Poland was born in the spring of 2000 during a trip to Krzyzowa.
The meeting to establish the foundation took place on February 8, 2001, in the Wrocław Town Hall hall. It was preceded by a Mass in the Wroclaw Cathedral, celebrated by Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz. The Foundation was officially registered on May 19, 2001.
The beginning of the activity was very difficult. The Foundation had no headquarters, no budget, no employees. It had a charismatic initiator – Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. At that time he came to Wroclaw extremely often, despite his almost 90 years of age.
One of the first activities of the College was to organize the Festival of Ukrainian Culture UKRAINA VIVA! It was the first serious presentation of Ukrainian culture in Wroclaw. The festival was prepared by a newly established foundation in cooperation with the Wroclaw Center for Culture and the Arts. Ostap Protsyk, a young Lviv journalist and columnist, became the artistic head of the festival.
The next festival was the Festival of Belarusian Culture. Its organization coincided with the signing of an agreement by the city of Wroclaw to establish partnership relations with Grodno in Belarus.
In January 2005 the initiator and founder of the College of Eastern Europe, Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, passed away. He died after a long and serious illness. He was buried at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. After the passing of its founder, the College of Eastern Europe took his name. From now on, the full name of our institution is the Jan Nowak-Jezioranski College of Eastern Europe in Wroclaw.
An important moment in the history of the College of Eastern Europe was the establishment of two periodicals: the bimonthly Nowa Europa Wschodnia and the quarterly and then bimonthly New Eastern Europe. Both magazines are based in Krakow.
In 2009-2011, the College of Eastern Europe coordinated the construction of the Memorial to the Murdered Professors of Lviv in Lviv.
Since 2014, the College of Eastern Europe has managed the Castle on the Water in Wojnowice near Wroclaw. And here begins a new chapter in the history of the College of Eastern Europe.
