The archaeology of memory – the Warsaw ghetto. Meetings with M. Krasucki at the ICC and the POLIN

May 28, 2025 (Wednesday), 6.00 pm – POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

May 29, 2025 (Thursday), 6.00 pm – International Cultural Centre

We would like to invite you to two exceptional meetings with Michał Krasucki, author of the book “Warszawskie getto. Pomiejsce”, published by the ICC. In Warsaw, the meeting will take place at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on Wednesday, May 28 at 6 p.m. In Krakow, the author will be interviewed a day later, on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the ICC.

“Warszawskie getto. Pomiejsce” is a moving and multidimensional story about the material traces of a non-existent world, which, however, did not disappear completely. Krasucki's publication goes beyond the framework of a classic history book – the author takes the reader on an archaeological expedition through the spaces of memory, combining the gaze of a varsavian, the experience of an urban conservationist and sensitivity to the voices of the past. The word “pomiejsce” aptly captures the elusiveness of the former boundaries of the Warsaw Ghetto - both in material terms and in the collective consciousness of the capital's residents.

Prof. Jacek Leociak, Ph.D. (in Warsaw), head of the Holocaust Literature Research Team at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences and author of numerous publications on the Warsaw Ghetto, and Edyta Gawron, Ph.D. (in Cracow), historian specializing in the history of Polish Jews and lecturer at the Institute of Judaic Studies of the Jagiellonian University, will discuss these issues with Michal Krasucki.

The meetings will be an opportunity to reflect on the memory of the city, the mechanisms of forgetting and ways of commemorating – as well as our responsibility for the legacy of a difficult history.

Michal Krasucki – art historian, varsavianist, graduate of the University of Warsaw, and later a doctoral student at the Art Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 2016, he has served as the Capital Conservator of Monuments. Initiator of, among others, the Open Flats Festival, he was also involved in the establishment of the Municipal Team for Warsaw Historic Art Workshops under the President of the City of Warsaw. Author of many publications, especially on Warsaw architecture and its history, including “Warszawskiego dziedzictwa postindustrialnego” and “Żol. Ilustrowany atlas architektury Żoliborza”.

Dr. Edyta Gawron – historian and lecturer, specializes in the modern history of Jews, with a particular focus on the Jews of Cracow. She also conducts research on the Holocaust period in Cracow, with emphasis on the history of the Cracow ghetto community. She has held fellowships from Yad Vashem, the U.S. State Department, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and is chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure project. She is a member of the PAU Committee on Jewish History and Culture (since 2008), the Polish Society for Jewish Studies, the European Association for Jewish Studies (since 2018), the Association for Jewish Studies (since 2015) and Women in International Security Poland (since 2018). He is also a member of the Program Council of the ICC.  

Prof. Jacek Leociak, PhD – Head of the Holocaust Literature Research Team at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Author of numerous publications on the Holocaust, especially those focusing on Warsaw and its ghetto, including “Tekst wobec Zagłady. O relacjach z getta warszawskiego”, ”Getto warszawskie. Przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście” (together with Barbara Engelking), ”Młyny boże. Zapiski o Kościele i Zagładzie” (nominated for the Nike Literary Award) or ” Biografie ulic. O żydowskich ulicach Warszawy: od narodzin po Zagładę” (Klio Prize). Originator and co-writer of exhibitions at the POLIN Museum: “Here is Muranów” (temporary) and the Holocaust Gallery (permanent, together with Barbara Engelking).


More about the publication “The Warsaw Ghetto. Places of Memory” HERE.