In August 2015 the XXIInd International Congress of Historical Sciences (ICHS) organised by International Committee of Historical Sciences (CISH) will take place in Jinan (China). The Congress is of a great significance for Polish historians due to the fact that during the Congress in Jinan the city hosting the next XXIIIrd meeting of historians in 2020 will be chosen. One of the official candidatures is city of Poznań (Poland).

Historians from all over the world were already the guests of the Polish historians in 1933 when Warsaw was the host city of the VIIth International Congress of Historical Sciences. It was just 15 years after Poland had regained its independence after a long period of partitions. Awarding the organization of the congress to Poland was an expression of the rapid advancement of Polish historiography to world leaders and a kind of ennoblement of the Polish historical community.

The idea of organizing the International Congress of Historical Sciences in Poland again has been widely approved from the very beginning. It was believed that twenty five years after the successful transformation of the political system in 1989 the Polish historians are able to take up such challenge. Poland’s position in the world and the position of Polish historiography speak very much in its favor. An argument was also raised that a Congress in Poland could, to some extent, be a joint effort of the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe. 

Two institutions have undertaken the organization of the XXIIIrd Congress in Poznań: the Committee of the Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. In March the President of the Committee and the Rector of the AMU officially submitted Poznań as the candidate for the hosting city of the next Congress in 2020.

The choice of Poznań was not random. The city itself and many of the Poznań’s institutions can be proud of rich experience in organizing such events. The considerable scientific potential of the city, especially the University is worth mentioning as well. More than 130 thousand students studied in Poznań at 8 large state universities in academic year of 2013-2014. The academic community of the Adam Mickiewicz University is over 50,000 in number, of which 3,000 are scholars. There are 15 faculties at the University. Bachelor degree and master degree programs, five-year master’s degree programs and doctoral programs are offered as full time and extra-mural programs in nearly 280 areas and fields of study in humanistic, social, exact, natural, technical, health and art sciences.

Poznań candidacy is also supported by many institutions. Organizational and financial support were declared by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by Polish Academy of Sciences, by all Polish universities and many institutions and scientific organizations in Poland and abroad.

The Organizing Committee, which is engaged in preparation of Poznań candidacy made a comprehensive application which can be referred to at http://www.cish.org/congres/Poznan_2020_Application.pdf The application contains also the intellectual concept of the future Congress with its slogan ‘Alter-native modernities’.

Presentation of the applications by the candidates will take place during the General Assembly of CISH, on August 23rd, and the final choice of the city hosting the CISH’s XXIIIrd Congress during the second General Assembly, on August 29th.