Karol Madaj appointed acting director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor - Instytut Pileckiego
01.09.2025 (Mon)
Karol Madaj appointed acting director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor
Marta Cienkowska, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, has appointed Karol Madaj acting director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor.
Karol Madaj
He graduated in biblical theology from the Catholic University of Lublin and went on to work as a translator of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic. For eleven years (2008–2019) he was employed at the National Education Office of the Institute of National Remembrance, among others as plenipotentiary of the Institute’s President for the establishment of the Center for Historical Education in Łódź and then as acting head of the Department of Historical Education.
In the years 2019–2020, he worked for the Pilecki Institute – Center for Totalitarian Studies, consulting and conducting research for two projects: “Called by Name” and “Jews in the General Government (1939–1945)”.
He co-created the Pilecki Family Museum in Ostrów Mazowiecka; on 16 October 2020, he was appointed the museum’s acting director, and in June 2021 – director. In 2023, he became the head of the Polish History Museum’s Centre For Information and Education on Poles Rescuing Jews Under German Occupation.
Author and co-author of publications devoted to the history of the 20th century: “Proboszcz getta” (2010) “Historia w przestrzeni publicznej” (2018), “Przed tobą ogień i woda: zagłada – decyzje – pomoc” (2024), as well as educational board games (including “Queue”, 2011).
photo: Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
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