Polish Researcher Studying Assyrians

By Marta Wozniak
March-20-2008

(AINA) -- My adventure with the Assyrian people began seven years ago in Sweden, where I was spending my summer holidays with two friends. One of them was partly of Assyrian origin, thus in Södertajle we were welcomed by his Assyrian family. I had never seen such hospitality, such kindness and generosity before, despite the fact that we could not communicate with all the members of the family (some of them knew English, but the older people spoke only Arabic). They took care of us and showed us the church, which made a great impression on me (I am a Christian myself).

After my return to Poland, I started studying Arabic because I wanted to be able to communicate with those Assyrians, who do not speak English. I prepared first a paper on "The Situation of the Assyrian Immigrants in the UE. The Past and the Present" and presented it at a conference in Warsaw. Then I got a scholarship at the Polish Ministry of National Education and spent one year in Syria studying Arabic. I came back and wrote an MA thesis on the Coptic Church (for some time I was working in Polish embassy in Cairo). At the same time, I wrote next paper on the Assyrians: "Exodus of the Assyrian-Chaldean minority from Iraq after 11th September 2001 in the eyes of the West" and presented it at the conference in Poznan. Furthermore, I was involved in many scholarly activities, which were appreciated by granting me the "Primus inter Pares" Award (the best student in Poland).

Even before being accepted as a doctoral student, I started collecting more data on the Assyrians. In summer 2006, I went to Brazil and found the Assyrians in Campo Grande and São Paulo. Last summer (2007) I visited some of ancient Assyrian places in Turkey and saw the sufferings of the Assyrian people in the south-east part of the country. Moreover, I came back to Sweden and had the possibility of living with the Assyrian family for few days, as well as visiting the Suroyo TV and participating in Mass in one of the Assyrian churches. I searched for books on the Christians of the Middle East not only in Sweden (Uppsala), but also in Germany (Leipzig and Chemnitz) and England (London).

At present, I am working as a lecturer at my home university (University of Lodz). I have still two years left to write my PhD dissertation, which has a working title: "Modern Assyrians: in search for national identity". It will consist of few parts -- theoretical framework, historical background and sociological part. In the theoretical framework I would like to present the different approaches towards the identity. The historical background will focus on the last century, especially on the tragedy of Seyfo and the emigration from the homeland. Additionally, I would like to provide some information about the Assyrian media, above all the Assyrian web-sites and the phenomena of "cyber Assyria." The third, sociological part will hopefully be the one to bring something new by presenting the personal, though anonymous, opinions of the Assyrians.

Click Here to Take a Survey

Therefore, I have constructed the electronic survey to reach as many Assyrian people as it is possible. Principally, I am interested in the ways in which the Assyrians perceive themselves. Other issues important to me are somewhat related to the latter, namely: the knowledge of languages (Classical Syriac and Aramaic in particular), the contact with Assyrian culture (magazines, television, radio, internet, etc.), the attitude towards tradition, the importance of the feasts, the religious background and practice, finally, the threats to the Assyrian identity and the methods of protecting it. I hope that the material which will be gathered thanks to this survey will serve not only me and all the scholars interested in the matter, but mainly and essentially the Assyrians themselves.