E-mail: j.cornell@instytutpileckiego.pl
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2367-1950

Biographical note 

John Cornell received his Bachelors in Music from the University of California, Berkeley, and continued his studies in Modern European History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his PhD there in 1997, specializing in modern French musical culture. He moved to Warsaw in 2008, and has been working with the Pilecki Institute since 2016, aiding with programs such as the database of post-war testimonies “Chronicles of Terror” and directing workshop series “English in Academia”. As an adjunct with the Institute’s Center for Totalitarian Studies, his research projects have included relations between the Polish Government-in-Exile and the British Government during the Second World War, and the work of the Polish Government with the United Nations War Crimes Commission. Currently he is studying youth subcultures and music during the Polish People’s Republic.

Research/academic interests

• relations between the Polish Government-in-Exile and the British Government during the Second World War
• work of the Polish Government with the United Nations War Crimes Commission
•  youth subcultures and music during the Polish People’s Republic

Selected publications

Academic papers 

• Cornell J. “Hooligans or Jazz Lovers? Sopot ’56 and the youth public in the early PRL,” The Polish Review, (in preparation, fall 2026);
• Cornell J. Małgorzata Fidelis, “Imagining the World from Behind the Iron Curtain: Youth and the Global Sixties in Poland”; Kyrill Kunakhovich, “Communism’s Public Sphere: Culture as Politics in Cold War Poland and East Germany” Studia nad Totalitaryzmami i Wiekiem XX/Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies, Tom/Vol. 7, 2023. (ISSN 2545-241X) (review);
• Cornell J.  “Accountability for War Crimes: Discussions on the War in Ukraine and Its Meaning for the West – International Conference ‘Russia’s War of Aggression Against Ukraine: Challenges of Documenting and Prosecuting War Crimes’” Studia nad Totalitaryzmami i Wiekiem XX/Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies, Tom/Vol. 7, 2023. (ISSN 2545-241X).

Participation in academic and organizational activities

Membership in committees

• Organizational committee of the international conference “Embracing the New, Preserving the Old: Studying Fascism, Communism, and Totalitarianism in the 2020s,” Warsaw, 14–15 October 2026;
• Organizational committee of the international conference “The Future of Central and East European Studies in the Light of Russia’s War of Aggression Against Ukraine,” Warsaw, 17–19 October 2024;
• Organizational committee of the international conference “The 80th anniversary of United Nations War Crimes Commission – its legacy and relevance,” The Hague, 18–19 October 2023;
• Organizational committee of the international conference “Russia’s War of Aggression Against Ukraine: Challenges of Documenting and Prosecuting War Crimes,” Berlin, 1–3 February 2023.

Membership in editorial bodies

• Editorial board, “Studia nad Totalitaryzmami i Wiekiem XX / Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies” yearbook, 2022–2023.