Jacek Leociak

Literature historian, professor of humanities, employee of the Literary Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Center for Holocaust Research. He graduated from the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw (1981), where he worked until 1997. He defended his PhD thesis (1996) at the Literary Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and his thesis on the Warsaw Ghetto was supervised by Professor Michał Głowiński. He works on analysing various ways of recording and representing border experiences (especially the experience of the Holocaust), as well as narratives of victims, perpetrators and witnesses.

In his works he analyses journals, accounts, diaries, letters, literature, as well as photographic and film documentation. He has published a number of works, including: Tekst wobec zagłady. O relacjach z getta warszawskiego (Wrocław 1997), a joint work with Barbara Engelking Getto warszawskie. Przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście, (Warsaw 2001, New Haven 2009, Warsaw 2013), for which he received the Jerzy Giedroyć Award, Jerzego Giedroycia, Doświadczenia graniczne. Studia o dwudziestowiecznych formach reprezentacji (Warsaw 2009), for which he was nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award and Ratowanie. Opowieści Polaków i Żydów (Krakow 2010), nominated for the Kazimierz Moczarski Historical Award. In 2018, his two latest books were published: Biografie ulic (Warsaw, 2018) and Młyny boże. Zapiski o kościele i zagładzie (Warsaw, 2018). He was awarded with the Order of Polonia Restituta and the honorary Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture.

Picture: Marytka Czarnocka