– Descended mainly from the Eastern Borderlands, his compatriots – victims of Soviet deportations - positively verified their generally superficial perceptions of the Orient. The exploration of the region, with all its charms and exotic mysteries, was undertaken devoid of any burden of chauvinism or cultural superiority. Although the Polish refugees lost almost every material possession, they regained the sense of freedom lost in the Soviet Union and embarked on a vibrant “journey of life” through the Middle East, where they felt they could count on the selfless help of another human being – a seemingly “stranger” – says Bartłomiej Noszczak about his book in an interview with the Pilecki Institute.
Bartłomiej Noszczak works at the Institute of National Remembrance. His research focuses on the Polish experience of confronting communism.
Award in the third category, “special award”
The special award for the best book on Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine since 2014 or the ongoing protests in Belarus since 2020 and the related repression was awarded to Zbigniew Parafianowicz for “Breakfast Smells Like a Corpse: Ukraine at War” (Mando Publishing House).
On 24 February 2022, Zbigniew Parafianowich was in Kiev. He witnessed the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion and the initial disorientation of Western nations towards Russia's actions. Through interviews with diplomats, soldiers, artists, and ordinary citizens, he constructs a narrative of a society that evaluates itself in the context of the war and endeavours to comprehend the origins of the Ukrainians' determination.
– Since 2003, he has dedicated his journalism career to reporting on Ukraine. That is, from the post-Kuchma era onwards. I had planned to write a political profile on Volodymyr Zelensky. The outbreak of war changed the optics. The report was written by events. I followed these events - Zbigniew Parafianowicz explained in an interview with the Institute.
– From my perspective, Zbigniew Parafianowicz's book illustrates the unfortunate reality that, after over 70 years, the war has returned to Europe and become an integral aspect of our existence. Perhaps also part of our future. And this is not a pleasant observation. Many would like to distance themselves from it, while others would like to look the other way. I think the book “Breakfast Smells like a Corpse” does not allow us to look the other way - said Prof. Marek Cichocki, a Pilecki Prize award committee member, in his laudation of the awarded book.
Zbigniew Parafianowicz is a journalist at “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna” and co-author of books on Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Yanukovych. – He has been covering topics related to Ukraine since 2003.
About the Pilecki Award
In 2021, the Witold Pilecki Institute for Solidarity and Valour, in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, inaugurated the Witold Pilecki International Award to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Rotmistrz Pilecki. He became the patron of the award because his reports from Auschwitz-Birkenau reported on the crimes committed by the Germans, described the events and contained in-depth analysis and humanistic reflection on the situation in the camp.
The Witold Pilecki International Award is granted to authors of the best scholarly and reportage books published in Polish or English in a given year that touch on the Polish experience of two totalitarian regimes.
The award committee comprises Piotr Cywiński, PhD (chairperson), Łukasz Adamski, PhD, Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski, Prof. Marek Cichocki, Prof. Magdalena Gawin, Prof. Patrycja Grzebyk, Prof. Marek Kornat, Wojciech Stanisławski, PhD, Prof. Claudia Weber, war correspondent Jack Fairweather, and Krzysztof Kosior, Witold Pilecki's great-grandson, representative of the award patron's family.
The competition winners will receive a prize of PLN 40,000 and a commemorative statuette. The authors of recognised books will receive a prize of PLN 15,000.