PUBLICATIONS GRANTED
THE WITOLD PILECKI
AWARD
Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych, Bartłomiej Noszczak and Zbigniew Parafinowicz are this year's winners of the Pilecki Award. The award committee also granted five distinctions. The statuettes, awards and prizes were presented at a gala at the Ujazdowski Castle.
The Pilecki Institute
This year marks the third edition of the Witold Pilecki International Award, granted in three categories: academic history book and historical reportage. A special award will also be granted for the best book on Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine that has been ongoing since 2014 - Prof. Magdalena Gawin, director of the Pilecki Institute, said at the gala.
Witold Pilecki composed his reports to inform the entire world of the events that transpired at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, journalists are heading to Ukraine to provide coverage of the events unfolding on the frontline. This category is our tribute to journalists and reporters - added Prof. Gawin.
Award in the category “Academic history book”
This category recognises the best monograph or synthesis discussing the Polish experience of confronting two totalitarian regimes during the XXth century. The best monograph is the book titled "Child in the Face of the Holocaust. Institutional Care for Orphans in the Warsaw Ghetto” by Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych, published by the Jewish Historical Institute.
The life of children and their guardians in orphanages and boarding schools within the Warsaw Ghetto is the subject of Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych's book, which is the first of its kind to discuss this topic comprehensively, thus contributing to our knowledge of the tragic fate of Warsaw's Jews.
– “My utmost concern was to recognise the educators, directors, doctors, and nurses who were with the children - they formed the initial group that I sought to bring into the limelight. The second group consisted of the children, which presented greater difficulty due to the limited availability of names and micro-histories” – stated Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych.
Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych works at the Jewish Historical Institute and the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on the history and culture of Warsaw's Jews.
Award in the category “Historical Reportage”
The International Pilecki Award for the best book in the category “Historical Reportage” was awarded to Bartłomiej Noszczak, author of the book "Orient of the Exiles. The Middle East through the Perspectives of Poles Evacuated from the Soviet Union (1942-1945)”, published by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).
The evacuation of the Anders Army from the Soviet Union to Iran was a lifesaver for thousands of people who went straight from the “inhuman land” to an unknown, culturally different world. Bartłomiej Noszczak tells the story of how Poles enjoying their regained freedom discovered the people, places and nature of the Middle East in the context of the ongoing war.