I am a sociologist. My fields of interest include: Jewish/non-Jewish relations, Jewish heritage and revival, memory of the Holocaust, far-right movement in Poland, social theory, and memory studies.
I studied sociology and European Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and La Sapienza University in Rome. I obtained my PhD from Jagiellonian University (Institute of Sociology) in 2017. My dissertation analyzed whether and under which social conditions the commemoration of Jewish communities in former shtetls in present-day Poland leads to productive engagements with collective memory. I’ve been awarded a Fulbright Junior Research Award (2012-2013), and a National Science Center grant (2014-2016). I have taken part in many projects investigating the memory of the Holocaust and of Jewish communities. I also worked as an editor in the Polish monthly Znak.
Currently I’m working on a book project on commemorative practices relating to the Jewish communities in the former shtetls in Poland. I am also a co-investigator in the project: “Mapping the Archipelago of Lost Towns: Post-Holocaust Urban Lacunae in the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian Borderlands” (Gerda Henkel Foundation, 2020-2022).
Publications
Journal articles
„W poszukiwaniu lokalnej pamięci o Zagładzie. Przypadek upamiętniania społeczności żydowskich w mniejszych miejscowościach we współczesnej Polsce”. Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały 16, 2021: 435-463.
“Jewish Heritage and Cultural Revival in Poland.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies. Ed. Naomi Seidman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199840731-0213.
“Emplacing Vernacular Memory: Looking for the Unconscious and Affective Aspects of Collective Memory” Rocznik Antropologii Historii, X, 2020: 71-93.
“From Absence to Loss: Holocaust Commemoration in Present-day Poland”. Remembrance and Solidarity Studies in 20th Century European History: Holocaust/Shoah 5, ed. Dan Michman & Matthias Weber, 2016, 115-136. https://enrs.eu/studies/studies5
with Marek Kucia and Mateusz Magierowski “Anti-Semitism in Poland: Survey Results and a Qualitative Study of Catholic Communities”. Nationalities Papers 42 (1): 2013, 8-26. DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2013.830601
with Marek Kucia and Mateusz Magierowski “Collective Memory of Auschwitz and World War II among Catholics in Poland: A Qualitative Study of Three Communities.” History and Memory 25 (2): 132-173. DOI: 10.2979/histmemo.25.2.132
Book chapters
“Wielogłos o Zagładzie”, Ed. Maria Anna Potocka, Kraków: Muzeum Sztuki Współczesnej w Krakowie MOCAK, 2018, 53-56.
“The Revival of Jewish Life in Kraków?” In We Were, We Are, We Will Be. The Jewish Community of Kraków after 1945, ed. Piotr Figiela, Kraków: Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa, 2015, 150-179.
“Materialne ślady trudnej przeszłości w dawnych sztetlach”. In Miejsce po. Miejsce bez, ed. Łukasz Klimek & Barbara Cisowska, Kraków: Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa, 47-58.
“Upamiętnianie Żydów w krajobrazie kulturowym Bobowej. Przepracowanie pamięci?”.In Antysemityzm – Holocaust – Auschwitz w badaniach społecznych, ed. Marek Kucia, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. 2011, 93–113.