For Current Students For Faculty and Staff University Directory UA Little Rock is profiling women in leadership positions who are making a difference at the university and in the community The next Woman to Watch at UA Little Rock of 2024 is Dr Tell us about yourself and your background where I got my bachelor’s and two master’s degrees one in Polish Studies and one in American Studies one of my MA advisors encouraged me to apply to a Ph.D I didn’t even know where to start but my professor was very supportive That’s how I ended up at the University at Buffalo (UB) I studied both American and Polish history While working on my doctorate in American Studies I was a graduate assistant in the Polish Studies Program for three years Being able and encouraged to study both helped me develop a transnational perspective on the history of both regions I wrote my dissertation on the migration of Polish peasants to the US after the abolition of slavery in the US which means different things for different scholars it’s studying connections between the US and Poland What is your current position and professional duties at UA Little Rock I serve as director of UA Little Rock Downtown UA Little Rock Downtown is a community engagement unit of our university and I’m responsible for all aspects of our operations I organize and coordinate events and programs that aim to connect the University with the community UA Little Rock Downtown is also home to a mural that Joe Jones The college was an experimental educational institution that trained labor leaders One of the most interesting aspects of my job is to co-serve as a steward of the mural by researching its history I wouldn’t be able to do what I do every day without another UA Little Rock woman our programming and administrative assistant who is a graduate of the UA Little Rock Public History program What brought you to UA Little Rock I started applying for open positions but also contacting various institutions that I thought might use people with my credentials One of them was the Department of History at UA Little Rock who was at the time chair of the history department responded politely that they didn’t need anyone he called me to ask if I would be interested in teaching as an adjunct professor because I was already doing contract-based jobs and needed something more stable he said their Eastern European history professor had just resigned to take a different job That meant the department was now looking for a full-time visiting assistant professor He encouraged me to apply and I got the job One year turned into a recurrent position and in January last year I still occasionally teach at the History Department and feel lucky I can remain connected to teaching and our students What are some of the exciting projects that you are working on at UA Little Rock Our biggest project at UA Little Rock Downtown right now is an exhibit titled “Slavery and Freedom: Journeys Across Time and Space.” It examines the history of modern slavery from a comparative perspective The inspiration for it is a traveling exhibit “The Surprising Story of Furcy Madeleine,” created by the Musée Villèle The exhibit explores the life of Furcy Madeleine an enslaved man who in 1817 launched his freedom suit in the French colony of Isle Bourbon (today’s Réunion) “Slavery and Freedom” will build upon Madeleine’s story It will feature panels from the Réunion exhibit and original panels that will add a comparative context of slavery and freedom in Arkansas The original panels will focus on the story of Abby Guy who lived as a free person until a man named William Daniel enslaved her launched her freedom suit in Arkansas in 1855 We received a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council to fund this project and the exhibit should open to the public starting on May 3 we will host a panel on the current state of affairs in Ukraine in light of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion Another event we’re planning is a storytelling workshop that will take place on April 27 which we’re working on in partnership with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) is part of a Big Read series inspired by Tommy Orange’s book “There There” that CALS is coordinating We’re also working with social studies and art educators to develop lesson plans around the Joe Jones mural that we will make available to teachers I’m scheduled to teach a course on the Holocaust at UA Little Rock Downtown it will include a community engagement component and I agreed it’s important we offer this course right now when once again we’re seeing surveys suggesting shockingly limited knowledge of Holocaust history among American students What woman has inspired you the most and why She finished five grades of elementary school and spent most of her life working as a small-scale farmer Her experience was quite typical for an Eastern European peasant woman whose life spanned through most of the 20th century She loved reciting poems in public and she knew many by heart she once went for a walk to the woods that was around a mile away from her house She decided she was too tired to walk back home so she slept in the woods and walked back in the morning My grandma lived through two world wars and many personal struggles and labored very hard And she always appreciated whatever she could in life I aspire to develop that kind of gratitude And to have the courage to break into poetry in public without worrying what others will think What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders Surround yourself with people from whom you can learn and empathetic individuals will be your greatest network whether in your professional or personal life and you would be surprised how many people would be willing to support you Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help or advice One of the greatest things about UA Little Rock is the program for students over 60 years of age These students are typically retired professionals And they bring the wealth of knowledge and experience This is to say that your mentor may be sitting next to you in your class right now if you are a UA Little Rock student These life-long learners are retired nurses Some are women who had successful careers in male-dominated fields Name something about yourself that most people would be surprised to learn It’s a long story but when I was young and making decisions about my future teaching repeatedly presented itself as a career path I took my first teaching job because I needed to pay my bills I had no license or experience but the shortage of teachers was so acute and I’m grateful for all the growth opportunities but I will always consider myself a teacher first but one quote from my favorite historical figure resonates with me: “We will be victorious if we have not forgotten how to learn.” But the truth is I don’t walk around quoting great East Central European thinkers and revolutionaries Much more often I quote Arrested Development “They don’t allow you to have bees in here.” UA Little Rock is a metropolitan research university in the South that provides accessibility to a quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities A Polish prison in the town of Leczyca is on the market  Formerly a monastery during the Spanish Inquisition the prison would later house notorious criminals and political prisoners Video courtesy of Reuters Follow BI Video: On Facebook FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS WATCH » ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film WATCH » what do you know about his physical appearance … He loved candies and had a habit of buying sweets and bringing them to people and also buying flowers He actually did three lines of study at the same time: He studied journalism and he knew that I would be living in a country where only Jews are circumcised two years before the war -- not to have a sign of Jewishness I am probably sitting here because of that -- not being circumcised what sort of memories do you have of your father … Being in the child carriage and being carried by somebody very fast almost running through the street of Warsaw and hearing the alarm of sirens and also in our courtyard in our room had to cover the windows when the German planes were coming The janitor would look around the windows and would remind everybody to put the stores on But of course you don't know who is killing who at this age … It's mainly the feeling of bodies and legs and shoes and Germans and dogs and shouts -- it's really very fragmented -- and the hours and waiting and waiting and fear and fear and I knew that it will be the moment of joy in the house The anticipation of danger -- that's what I learned my way of being safe and secure was holding her ear and that was at times extremely annoying to my mother But I remember this ear of my mother ever since I remember -- and certainly during the ghetto in the worst times That was my sense of safety was when I could hold her ear My grandfather -- my father's father's name was Moshe Mordechai Kushner -- and he was a dentist in the shtetl or town of Leczyca He was educated in the medical school in Saratov My grandfather was killed almost the day the Germans invaded Leczyca and they point out that he was the wealthy Jew who has gold and his wife died of a heart attack in two weeks They were the very first casualty of the Holocaust … Probably at the age of four or maybe three and in order to cut here without anesthetics about ten people or more with my family hold me I got a reputation of a totally uncontrollable child My scream was such that everybody was certain that this child we'll never be able to save or to be silent had this passport for life for his immediate family In the beginning it included the large family my grandmother was taken to Umschlagplatz from where they were taken to concentration camp And my great-grandmother went actually mad almost after that The next day she left the apartment and went herself and asked the German to be sent to the concentration camp That's how my grandmother and great-grandmother were killed during those blockades when we were saved Then the sister of my uncle with a little child … My father was told by the German owner that actually in the next few days there would be a blockade and all children will be taken to the concentration camp -- all Then the decision was made of smuggling me sending me out to the Christian side of Warsaw … My father and my mother were coaching me almost as a soldier because they knew that I had to "You will survive if you keep your mouth shut you will never tell anybody that you are a Jew." … … The plan was that a woman who is professionally smuggling children will come to my house and take me with her … She had some arrangements with some Germans at the gate of the ghetto who would pretend that they are not noticing her because she carried a lot of children with her it was not that dangerous as for the Jewish grownups leaving the ghetto I know one thing that this woman was given by my mother three gold watches but I know that they were mainly for people that will be blackmailing her after she leaves the ghetto then we were stopped by a small group of people And those people were blackmailing us to bring us to Gestapo and this woman was told that she is carrying a Jewish child And this woman's routine was always the same and she did this at this time: She called the Polish police -- Granatowy -- policeman navy blue policemen is what they were called and the only way for them to make money is to arrest us and then the scene of me being a terrible screaming child was repeated again and this woman was holding my hand and my mouth and I was screaming: "I want to go back to ghetto I want to go to mommy," those were the words and at the police station we were put in the jail but the woman contacted the head of the station who knew that one of the watches would be for him The first one was for the one who brought us And he would keep us in the jail 'til the end of the day and that is what I remember -- sitting among the prostitutes and the people that were loud And I also remember that they were giving me a piece of bread with sugar -- that's what we call the sugar sandwich The sugar sandwich was the biggest delicacy for a child at this time so I had a very good treatment in this jail … The story of my mother leaving the ghetto was much more dramatic because my uncle was in charge of solving the situation decided to solve the situation of being blackmailed by directly posing as a Gestapo agent himself by actually threatening the blackmailers that he will make them arrested by the Gestapo for criminal activity … I had to be somebody else now; I had to have a Catholic birth certificate and during these few days or maybe weeks when we were in this house and then my mother and I kneeled on the floor and the reason was that this way we could obtain false papers that there is no way that the two of us can survive together that we have to go completely different paths And during this time there were attempts to place me in many Altogether I was in the hands of 17 families that poor people that could not support themselves actually treated hiding Jews as a business or my mother has from my grandfather the dentist a little sack with the gold and platinum teeth and in some cases she would be paying with those teeth … It became so difficult that at one point I was on the balcony and I saw someone walking and saying "dirty Jew." And then I talked back to him: "I am a Jew and that's what takes me to the ghetto." I broke my conspiracy immediately we have to leave their apartment because the danger of Gestapo coming and taking all of us was too big … And the way to save me is that I would have to be abandoned on the street of Warsaw in order to lose completely my identity whoever will find me will treat me as an abandoned Polish orphan And they were able to contact a man who was in charge of the organization that runs several orphanages in Poland and had an office and there was a courtyard in the front of this office And the idea was that the man who was in charge of this office will be in cahoots with this operation and will know the child will be left will be picked up by one of his employees there and will be taken to the office then placed in an orphanage and he will know in which orphanage I will be placed … And that's what she did; she brought me to this courtyard of this building She put a cardboard around my neck: "My name is Marys [this is the diminutive of Marian] My parents are dead." She gave me this brown bag with this sugar sandwich -- another sugar sandwich And she left me in the middle of this courtyard and said This is the only way that you will be alive Somebody will come to you and will be with you … How long did you stay there before someone -- I remember somebody approached me very soon And I remember that I was suddenly in a basement in the company of small children and a woman and a man He was a janitor of the building; he was the one that noticed me first Before anyone from the organization would notice me and because I disappeared from the view from the courtyard then obviously the people working there could never -- they didn't notice any child in the courtyard because it probably took no time for the janitor to take me So when my mother learned that no child was found in the courtyard my mother was absolutely sure that the operation failed completely … And the first thing I remember is that the man smells heavy like alcohol Then I remember continuous fights between his wife and him And I remember being sandwiched between him and his wife I can only rationalize after all the years that the way that I looked that I was his dream child that he didn't have there so good I started slowly -- not telling him that I am a Jew I never told him this -- I told him that I had family in Warsaw and I was telling stories that the children sometimes tell: I am from wealthy family; I have a lot of family; I was here and there I knew that I can tell him this but not the other thing So the idea was that he somehow thought I was lost "My mother brought me here." "Where is your mother?" "I don't know where my mother is but I know some of the people that I was with." And I gave him the first address it happened to be the house of my uncle's brother And in one Sunday he was able to go with me and knock the door "Do you know this boy?" And the uncle said "I don't know this boy." And I was not sure at this time The idea was that it was too dangerous for the uncle to take me I told him that I also remember another house and this house is an apartment of a priest You can leave him here." And he left me there And what I learned later was that she had witnessed a miracle in the church "You must rescue a little child." And ever since she thought that she made a big mistake of returning me and at this point I had my papers with me already she asked the priest if it would be okay with him … I remember being all the time with the maid in the maid room but I also remember being on the street this time and walking with her and I remember running in the tramway one time and encountering a German officer that would put me on his knees … One of the things that I imitated from the priest and from going to church was the signs of the cross which was like a blessing And I remember standing on the floor of Krakowskie Prezedmiescie behind the curtains seeing the cars and people and Germans walking and knowing this is the world that is dangerous to me and I would do that -- I would be blessing this person to make miracles And in a sense I started to behave like a priest And this kind of priesthood which I put my mind in would gave me a power and safety and security … At one point I was taken by the maid 25 kilometers from Warsaw to an orphanage that was run by the priest who was [a member of] the brothers of the order called Orione We saw smoke over the sky of Warsaw; we were only 20 kilometers [away] And I recall peasants and other people gathering there and saying zydki sie pala "the Jews are burning." And that moment when I acknowledge that they were talking about the Jews and then I had the moment of realizing that my father was there … I remember being shown naked to some of the brothers because there was always this entry for me this assurance to this establishment that in case the Germans come I was already baptized before with my mother Then I passed wonderfully the exam to be the alter boy and knowing in Latin absolutely the whole text of the ritual of serving the mass which included assisting the church in pouring the water and the wine And the chapel was used whenever Germans were around probably buying some goods or being around I was always taken by one of the brothers to the chapel either by serving the mass or sometimes behind the alter … I went to Warsaw one time to the big cathedral and was brought to a ceremony of the benediction of the new catholic priest And it's done in an extremely theatrical way: When the candidates for priesthood are in the white robes and they lay on the floor like cross for a long a time that was the time when I decided that I will be a priest suddenly we see the German troops coming to the orphanage We were told by the priests and the sisters that they are losing the war … My mother doesn't know exactly where I am but for some reason she cannot get in touch with the priest actually going to first one or two wrong places where I was not there I was kneeling in the dining room above the table in my old fur coat from before the war I don't know who you are." "I am your mother." I said I don't kow who you are." And then she starts to tell me about what I remember from the past and she mentioned one name which is Ciocia Frania -- the aunt "I remember Ciocia Frania." "You see Ciocia Frania," -- the aunt -- "is my sister I would like to take you to Warsaw to live with me." … I think the recognition of my mother came through touching her ear And we went together to a bus or train station or maybe we went all through Warsaw in the horse wagon How did you find out about the immediate causes of the events that lead to his death Could you tell us a bit about that -- we are going ahead -- but could you tell us what your mother told you and having this so-called passport for life being able to survive longer than anybody else It is not clear to me if he left the ghetto before or after the insurrections of the Warsaw ghetto but it is certain he was taken on one of the last transports from the ghetto and he was taken to the concentration camp of Majdanek near Lublin cut the hole in the floor of the wagon and then they jumped … He joined the partisans and met my mother two times actually in the little barn or the little shack there when my mother left him for the last time and heard the shots in the train everybody was telling around that the Ukrainian units of the German army were penetrating forests and would kill partisans -- were actually surrounding the forest