Oppositional Engagement of Women in Authoritarian and Totalitarian Systems of the 20th Century - CONFERENCE PROGRAM - Instytut Pileckiego
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
"Oppositional Engagement of Women in Authoritarian and Totalitarian Systems of the 20th Century: Poland in a Comparative European Perspective (1919–1989)"
Augustów, 8–10 July 2026
8 July (Wednesday), day 1 of the conference
10:00–11:00 Registration of guests, coffee
11:00–11:20 Welcome address: Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz and Dr. Joanna Nikel
11:20–13:40
PANEL I: Women in relation to the state, nation, and politics in the 20th century
The panel is devoted to the diverse forms of women’s presence in 20th-century public life. The papers address issues of political engagement, civic participation, parliamentary work, journalistic endeavors and social activity, presenting women as co-creators of modern political culture. The comparative perspective makes it possible to trace both the opportunities for and limitations on women’s agency in different national and ideological contexts. The central question concerns the place of women in the processes of shaping political communities and their role in the transformations of public life in 20th-century Europe.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel I: Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz
11:20–11:35 Prof. Tiina Kinnunen (University of Oulu), Finnish Feminists Supporting the Nation, around 1900
11:35–11:50 Assoc. Prof. Grzegorz Zackiewicz, Professor of the University of Białystok, Female Opposition Members of Parliament in the Sejm and Senate of the Second Polish Republic, 1926–1935
11:50–12:05 Prof. Ewa Maj (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), The Experience of Oppositionality Among Polish Women in the First Half of the 20th Century: Cases of Female Journalists
12:05–12:20 Assoc. Prof. Joanna Dufrat, Professor of the University of Wrocław, In the Shadow of Fordon: Communist Women and Their Experiences of Political Repression in the Second Polish Republic
12:20–12:35 Dr. Marcin Mleczak, Spanish Women of the Left – Between Emancipation, Revolution and the “Reconquista” (1931–1946)
12:35–12:50 Assoc. Prof. Agnieszka Chłosta-Sikorska, Professor of the University of the National Education Commission, Kraków Women Between Institution and Resistance. Women in Public, Social, and Conspiratorial Life in the 20th Century
12:50–13:05 Assoc. Prof. Joanna Sanecka-Tyczyńska, Professor of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Forms of Opposition Activity Among Women in the Polish People’s Republic and Their Subsequent Political Activity on the Example of the Political Milieu of the United Right
13:05–13:20 Prof. Krystyna W. Trembicka (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), The Participation of Women on the Solidarity-Opposition Side in the Round Table Talks in Poland in 1989
13:20–13:40 Discussion and summary
13:40–15:15
PANEL II: Women in the underground and the struggle for independence
The panel is devoted to the place of women in independence movements during the Second World War and the first postwar years. Its points of reference include both individual biographies and broader questions of agency, responsibility, and women’s participation in underground structures. The papers will offer a view of the course of the struggle for independence through the experiences of women who helped shape the history of resistance and the pro-independence underground in Central and Eastern Europe.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel II: Prof. Arkadiusz Adamczyk
13:40–13:55 Dr. Ludwika Majewska (Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź – Radogoszcz Martyrdom Branch), Girls from the Kraków Milieu of the Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence
13:55–14:10 Patrycja Resel, MA (Institute of National Remembrance – Łódź), An Agent of Many Intelligence Services. Jadwiga Samaniewicz in the Intelligence Structures of the Second Polish Republic in Lithuania, the Gestapo, and the Communist Security Apparatus
14:10–14:25 Dr. Anna Marcinkiewicz-Kaczmarczyk (Institute of National Remembrance – Warsaw), The Security Services and Elżbieta Zawacka (1944–1956). Selected Aspects
14:25–14:40 Prof. Grzegorz Ostasz (Rzeszów University of Technology), From the Home Army to the Freedom and Independence Association. Women in the Intelligence Service of the Pro-Independence Underground Movement in the Rzeszów Region
14:40–14:55 Dr. Maria Bauchrowicz-Tocka (Institute of Women’s Studies), Teresa Steckiewicz. Nurse, Activist, Oppositionist
14:55–15:15 Discussion and summary
15:15–16:15 Lunch (ground floor)
16:15–17:30
PANEL III: Women in relation to totalitarian repression: deportations, prisons, and systems of violence
The panel is devoted to the experiences of women subjected to repression by totalitarian states and to the functioning of political violence in its individual and collective dimensions.
The focus is on deportations, labor camps, prisons, national repression, and the issue of gender as a category for analyzing mass violence.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel III: Dr. Bartłomiej Kapica
16:15–16:30 Prof. Oksana Kis (National Research Foundation of Ukraine, President of the Ukrainian Association for Research in Women’s History), Camp Sisterhood, Ukrainian Women’s Resistance to Dehumanization in the Gulag
16:30–16:45 Prof. Eka Tchkoidze (Ilia State University, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg), Voices Silenced Twice: Repressions against Greek Minority Women in Soviet Georgia and Their Comparative Context (1930s–1949)
16:45–17:00 Dr. Vitalija Stravinskienė (Institute of Lithuanian History in Vilnius), Survival Strategies of Women From the Vilnius Region: 1944–1956
17:00–17:15 Dr. Krzysztof Kossakowski (Institute of Women’s Studies), Female Members of the Union for Armed Struggle/Home Army Exiled to Siberia
17:15–17:30 Discussion and summary
17:30–17:45 Coffee
17:45–19:00
PANEL IV: Women in relation to war and occupation: solidarity, rescue, and extreme experiences
The panel is devoted to women functioning in the realities of war and occupation, whose lives reveal both the experience of violence and active efforts on behalf of others. The subject of reflection will be the biographies of women who made efforts to save the persecuted, build communities of support, and preserve their agency in extreme situations. The panel’s subject matter forms part of a developing field of research that presents women not only as victims of repression, but also as active participants in processes of solidarity, assistance, and moral resistance to occupation violence.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel IV: Dr. Joanna Nikel
17:45–18:00 Dr. Beata Kozaczyńska (University of Siedlce), The Trajectory of Women’s Experiences of Repression: The Case Study of Maria Krasulanka “Kim” from the Zamość Inspectorate of the Home Army
18:00–18:15 Dr. Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych (Pilecki Institute), Three Sisters, Or the Life Trajectories of Jewish Nurses on the Example of Sabina Schindler, Cyrla Czarnobroda and Rachela Hutner
18:15–18:30 Assoc. Prof. Tomasz Ceran (Pilecki Institute), Gendercide? The Category of Gender in Research on the Pomeranian Atrocities of 1939
18:30–18:45 Dr. Kinga Czechowska (Pilecki Institute), Because It Had to Be Done; To Fulfill a Moral Duty; To Resist – On the Motivations of Women Who Helped and Rescued Jews From KL Stutthof and Its Subcamps
18:45–19:00 Discussion and summary
19:00–19:30 Summing up of the first day of the conference (Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz, Dr. Joanna Nikel)
20:00 Pre-release of the second episode of the documentary audioseries “Courtroom 600: Witnesses of Nuremberg” at the Augustów Roundup Memorial House
21:00 Official dinner
9 July (Thursday), day 2 of the conference
09:30 Coffee
09:45–11:50
PANEL V: Women in relation to communism: dissidence, revisionism, and intellectual resistance
The panel is devoted to diverse manifestations of women’s opposition to communism in Central and Eastern Europe from the Stalinist period to the decline of the system. Particular attention is given to the attitudes and actions of women operating at the intersection of politics, culture, social thought, and civic activism, who sought to redefine the boundaries of freedom under authoritarian and totalitarian rule. Analyses will cover both the individual biographies of women dissidents, intellectuals, and social activists, as well as broader revisionist, opposition, and feminist milieus that created alternative spaces for debate outside the official ideological circulation. The presentations gathered within the panel will show the multiplicity of forms of women’s resistance: from open political opposition, dissident activity, and participation in informal intellectual circles, to ideological revisionism, criticism of the system formulated from left-wing positions, and strategies for preserving intellectual and moral independence.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel V: Assoc. Prof. Tomasz Ceran
09:45–10:00 Dr. Judit Acsády (ELTE Centre for Social Sciences), Feminist Activism and Women Participants in the Dissident Circles in Hungary in the 1970s
10:00–10:15 Assoc. Prof. Bogdan Borowik, Professor of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Soviet Totalitarianism in the Memoirs of Natalia Gorbaniewska, Published in the Underground Magazine “Arka”
10:15–10:30 Dr. Bartłomiej Kapica (Pilecki Institute), “The Empty Quint”. Communism in the Reflections of Flora Bieńkowska (1914–1990)
10:30–10:45 Karolina Żurawska, MA (University of Białystok), “Everyone Turned from Saul into Paul” – On Jadwiga Siekierska’s Revisionism After 1953 and Its Political and Social Reception
10:45–11:00 Dr. Imre Molnár, Ilona Tóth, a Victim of the Hungarian Revolution With the Noblest of Hearts
11:00–11:15 Dr. Anastasiya Ilyina (Belorussian Institute of Public History), An Attitude of Resistance: Larysa Geniusz and the Soviet System
11:15–11:30 Dr. Katarzyna Bogdziewicz (Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius), The Professional and Educational Discrimination of Women as a Form of Administrative Repression in Soviet Lithuania
11:30–11:50 Discussion and summary
11:50–12:05 Coffee
12:05–13:35
PANEL VI: Religion, ethics and community as spaces of women’s resistance
The panel is devoted to diverse forms of women’s engagement inspired by religious and ethical convictions. The subject of reflection will include both individual attitudes of opposition to state policy and the activities of women functioning in religious orders, faith communities, and transnational religious networks. Particular attention will be paid to their role in sustaining social bonds, protecting religious life, preserving moral independence, and building spaces of freedom under conditions of repression. The presentations show women as active participants in processes of resistance who, through religious, social, and educational activity, co-created milieus capable of opposing the ideological pressure of communist states. In this way, the panel forms part of a developing field of research on women’s agency, showing that faith, ethics, and community were not only sources of spiritual support, but also important instruments of social and cultural resistance to totalitarian systems.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel VI: Dr. Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych
12:05–12:20 Dr. Nadezhda Beliakoba (Bielefeld University), Faith and Oppositional Engagement under Late Soviet Authoritarianism: A Comparative Analysis of Female Agency in Transnational Networks during the Cold War
12:20–12:35 Marcelina Koprowska, MA (Doctoral School of Humanities, University of Warsaw), The Case of the Eviction of the Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross From St. Martin’s Church in Warsaw (1949–1956) as an Example of the Resistance of Nuns to Repression by the Authorities of the Polish People’s Republic
12:35–12:50 Dr. Grzegorz Sokołowski (Archdiocesan Archives in Wrocław), A Struggle for Survival. Female Religious Congregations in Lower Silesia During the Tenure of Rev. Kazimierz Lagosz (1951–1956)
12:50–13:05 Prof. Jacek Czaputowicz (University of Warsaw), The “Dry Hunger Strike” as a Form of Protest Used by Captain Barbara Sadowska While a Stalinist Prisoner in the Polish People’s Republic
13:05–13:20 Dr. Katarzyna Jóźwik (Pilecki Institute), In the Shadow of the Systems of the 20th Century: The Experience of Repression and Strategies of Resistance of Maria Rutkowska-Kurcyuszowa
13:20–13:35 Discussion and summary
13:35–14:35 Lunch (ground floor)
14:35–16:55
PANEL VII: Education, culture, and the pedagogy of resistance
The panel is devoted to diverse forms of women’s activity that went beyond political activity in the classical sense, while also constituting an important element of resistance to authoritarian and totalitarian systems. The subject of reflection will include both actions undertaken under conditions of occupation and repression, as well as long-term practices aimed at preserving intellectual independence, cultural continuity, and historical memory. The presentations show women as active participants in the processes of shaping civic attitudes, creating alternative circuits of culture, and building communities based on knowledge, education, and responsibility for intergenerational transmission. A special place is given to the issue of the pedagogy of resistance, understood not only as educational activity in the strict sense, but also as conscious opposition to policies of imposing memory, ideological control, and restrictions on freedom of speech.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel VII: Assoc. Prof. Agnieszka Chłosta-Sikorska, Professor at the University of the National Education Commission
14:35–14:50 Assoc. Prof. Adam Miodowski, Professor of the University of Białystok, The Role of Maria Kolendo in Shaping the Pedagogy of Resistance in the Białystok Region (1939–1980): From the Wartime Educational Underground to the Postwar Reconstruction of Historical Memory
14:50–15:05 Dr. Justyna Zajko-Czochańska (University of Białystok), Helena Salska and Her Pedagogy of Resistance in the German Concentration Camp of Ravensbrück
15:05–15:20 Dr. Anna Szwed-Walczak (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), The “Soft Opposition” of Women in the Polish People’s Republic. The Editorial Staff and Female Readers of the “Kobieta i Życie” Weekly Magazine and the Official State Discourse
15:20–15:35 Assoc. Prof. Marek Białokur, Professor of the University of Opole, Long Live Poland! Long Live “Łupaszko”! Danuta Siedzikówna “Inka” in School History Textbooks
15:35–15:50 Dr. Izabella Kopczyńska (Institute of National Remembrance – Poznań), Hanna Malewska – Underground Activist and Writer in the Face of Totalitarian Regimes
15:50–16:05 Assoc. Prof. Beata Walęciuk-Dejneka, Professor of the University of Siedlce, A Writer on the Blacklist. The Literary Work of Helena Zakrzewska (1880–1952) – An Interrupted History
16:05–16:20 Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz (University of Białystok, Pilecki Institute), On the Oppositional Activities of the Actress Maria Chwalibóg
16:20–16:45 Dr. Elżbieta Kuzborska-Pacha (Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius), Prof. Jolanta Urbanovič (Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius), Dr. Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska (University of Łódź), Between Loyalty and Resistance. Forms of Female Resistance in the Polish-Language Education System of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
16:45–17:00 Discussion and summary
17:00–17:15 Coffee
17:15–19:05
PANEL VIII: Memory, narrative, and representations of resistance
The panel is devoted to women’s narratives of resistance and to ways of representing the experience of opposition to authoritarian and totalitarian systems. The subject of reflection will include personal testimonies, memoirs, and autobiographical narratives, as well as literary, film, and artistic forms of presenting women’s engagement. Particular attention will be paid to the relationships between individual memory and collective memory, and to the place of women in the processes of shaping a culture of memory. The presentations show women not only as participants in resistance movements, but also as authors of testimonies, creators of narratives, and co-creators of ways of understanding the past. The analysis will cover both strategies for narrating experiences of violence and exclusion, as well as mechanisms of women’s presence and absence in dominant historical narratives. The panel forms part of a dynamically developing field of research on cultural memory, the history of experience, and the representation of the past. It shows that the struggle for memory was often a continuation of earlier resistance to totalitarian systems, and that the creation and transmission of testimonies was one of the most important forms of preserving agency and opposing interpretations of history imposed by the authorities.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel VIII: Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz
17:15–17:30 Dr. Anna Szwarc-Zając (Instituto Salvemini di Torino), Privacy, Testimony, Ethics. Women’s Narrative Strategies as Forms of Oppositional Engagement Against Totalitarian Violence in Poland and Italy
17:30–17:45 Yuliia Kravchenko, Art as Resistance and Resistance as Art in the Life Path of the Ukrainian Dissident Artist Stefaniya Shabatura
17:45–18:00 Dr. Mateusz Werner (UKSW), The Portrayal of the Female Opposition Activist in the Polish People’s Republic in Polish Cinema
18:00–18:15 Dr. Joanna Nikel (Pilecki Institute), The Resistance That Never Was. Leni Riefenstahl and Postwar Narratives About Her Own Role in the Third Reich in Light of the Latest Archival Materials
18:30–18:45 Mateusz Fałkowski (Pilecki Institute), Women and Resistance in Authoritarian Systems – How Our Research Assumptions Affect the (In)visibility of Women
18:45–19:05 Discussion and summary
19:05–19:20 Summing up of the second day of the conference (Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz, Dr. Joanna Nikel)
20:30 Official dinner
10 July (Friday), day 3 of the conference
09:00 Coffee
09:15–11:20
PANEL IX: Solidarity, the democratic opposition and systemic transformation
The panel is devoted to diverse forms of women’s activity in the democratic opposition movement and their place in the process of systemic transformation after 1989. The subject of reflection will include both the individual biographies of opposition activists and the experiences of women’s circles connected with the Solidarity trade union, the political underground, and civic initiatives operating outside the control of the communist state. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of women’s agency under conditions of declining authoritarianism and their participation in shaping a new political order. The subject matter forms part of a developing field of research on the social history of Solidarity, the history of civic resistance, and the role of women in democratization processes. It shows that the history of the fall of communism cannot be limited solely to the actions of political elites and negotiations conducted at the Round Table talks. It was also the result of many years of activity by women who, through social, organizational, and political work, helped create the foundations of the transformations that led to the recovery of freedom and the rebuilding of civil society.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel IX: Dr. Kinga Czechowska
09:15–09:30 Dr. Dorota Gajda-Szczegielniak (Principal of Secondary School No. 5 in Opole, Academy of Applied Sciences, Higher School of Management and Administration in Opole), Women of Solidarity from Opole and Their Resistance to the Communist System
09:30–09:45 Dr. Łukasz Jędrzejski (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), The Oppositional Activities of Henryka Krzywonos
09:45–10:00 Dr. Justyna Stępień, Sylwia Rowicka, MA, Life Has Changed… The Fates of Radom’s Female Opposition Activists on the Example of Mirosława Hetman
10:15–10:30 Dr. Szymon Brzeziński (Institute of National Remembrance – Warsaw), Mother and Daughter. Wanda Ferens and Marzena Górszczyk-Kęcik and the System of the Polish People’s Republic
11:00–11:20 Discussion and summary
11:20–13:10
Panel X: Women Between Emigration, Culture, and Transnational Networks of Resistance
The panel is devoted to women functioning at the intersection of politics, culture, and emigration, whose activities extended beyond state borders and the traditional frameworks of opposition activity. The subject of reflection will include both the individual biographies of political activists, intellectuals, and representatives of émigré elites, as well as the processes of creating transnational communities, networks of cooperation, and circuits of ideas that made it possible to sustain independent political and cultural activity. The presentations show women as participants in international émigré milieus, intermediaries between different cultural and political circles, and co-creators of spaces for the exchange of thought and experience. A special place is given to the role of emigration as an area for preserving intellectual independence and building alternative forms of public engagement outside the control of authoritarian and totalitarian states. The panel forms part of a developing field of transnational research, which draws attention to the importance of the flow of people, ideas, and experiences in the history of the 20th century. It also shows that women’s engagement in opposition activity was not limited to the national sphere, but often developed within international networks of cooperation that played an important role in sustaining the memory, culture, and aspirations for freedom of the societies of Europe divided by the ideological borders of the Cold War.
Moderation and concluding remarks for Panel X: Dr. Joanna Nikel
11:20–11:35 Dr. Agata Błaszczyk (University College London), “Home” as a Place of Dissent. Gender Practices of Resistance Among Polish Refugee Women in Postwar Great Britain
11:35–11:50 Dr. Kamila Łabno-Hajduk (University of the National Education Commission in Kraków), Emigration as a Space for Opposition Activity. Aniela Mieczysławska’s Collaboration with Jerzy Giedroyc and the Literary Institute
11:50–12:05 Prof. Virginija Jureniene (Vilnius University), Women’s Activities in Lithuania on the Eve of the Restoration of Independence (1988–1989)
12:05–12:20 Prof. Krzysztof Buchowski (University of Białystok), The Amber Lady – Kazimira Prunskienė
12:20–12:35 Prof. Arkadiusz Adamczyk (Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce); Assoc. Prof. Patrycja Jakóbczyk-Adamczyk, Professor of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Hard Times Create Strong Women… Halina Martin (1911–2007)
12:35–12:50 Zdzisława Monika Molnárné Sagun, Countess Elżbieta Tarnowska (1875–1956) – Mother of a Martyr of the Polish and Hungarian Nations
12:50–13:10 Discussion and summary
13:10–13:30 Summing up of the conference (Prof. Małgorzata Dajnowicz, Dr. Joanna Nikel)
13:30–14:30 Lunch (ground floor)
14:30 Tour of the exhibition at the Augustów Roundup Memorial House
Information for participants:
Venue – conference hall – Augustów Roundup Memorial House, 1st floor, Augustów, 16 3 maja Street (Building No. 2).
Accommodation – Oficerski Yacht Club Hotel, Augustów, 1 Wyszyńskiego Street.
The project is financed from the state budget funds awarded by the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the “Wektory Nauki” program.
The conference is held under the honorary patronage of Marta Cienkowska, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
The conference is held under the honorary patronage of Mirosław Karolczuk, the Mayor of Augustów.
Honorary patronage
Media partnership
