The Witold Pilecki International Book Award: Bilewicz, Marat and Eristavi winners of the Institute’s 5th competition for best history book - Instytut Pileckiego

The Witold Pilecki International Book Awards were presented during a ceremony on Thursday 11 December, in the auditorium of the Pilecki Institute.

The prestigious award was presented in three categories: Michał Bilewicz’s Traumaland was recognized as the best academic history book, Emil Marat’s Bratny. Hamlet rozstrzelany received the award for the best historical reportage, and the Special Prize went to Russian Colonialism 101. How to Occupy a Neighbor and Get Away with It. An Illustrated Guide by Ukrainian journalist Maksym Eristavi.

Out of 60 submissions, the international Awards Committee appointed by the Pilecki Institute shortlisted 12 publications, ultimately selecting three winners and two honorary mentions. The winners and authors of commended books received commemorative statuettes and cash prizes. The awards ceremony was held under the honorary patronage of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

The Witold Pilecki International Book Award celebrates outstanding authors and their most important books through awards and honorable mentions. While the winners take center stage – especially today, during the awards ceremony – the Award is not just about them, said Karol Madaj, Acting Director of the Pilecki Institute. The Pilecki Award also gives us an opportunity to present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the most valuable books published in the previous year. The value of a good book cannot be overestimated. In the time of haste, sensationalism, fake news, brainrots, as well as information and misinformation overload – we need books as carriers of verified knowledge. That is why we are all the more keen to recognize publications that are reliable and credible. Please take good note of all these publications and, better still, try to find them in bookstores and libraries and simply read them, emphasized Director Karol Madaj.

The Witold Pilecki International Book Award has been awarded since 2021 in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. The Awards Committee includes representatives of both institutions and the Pilecki family, as well as Polish and foreign historians and publicists.

In this 5th edition, the prizes were awarded to authors of the best academic and journalistic books pub­lished in 2024 and devoted to the experience of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in confronting totalitarianism in the 20th century, with a par­ticular emphasis on Poland. The awarding of the Special Prize was possible thanks to financial support from a private donor.

Winners of the Witold Pilecki International Book Award 2025

Category: Academic History Book

– for the best monograph or synthesis on the experience of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe of confronting totalitarianism in the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on Poland.

Main prize

• Michał Bilewicz, Traumaland. Polacy w cieniu przeszłości, Wydawnictwo MANDO/Wydawnictwo WAM

The readers of “Traumaland” take up a challenge to immerse themselves in the pandemonium of the Poles’ attitude towards their own past, said Prof. Pierre-Frédéric Weber, a member of the Awards Committee, in his commendation speech. The author balances detachment with empathy. He often uncovers, analyzes and reopens Polish wounds with painful earnestness, but only to clean them – from myths, propaganda and intellectual shortcuts. For it is only then that the wounds can heal, added Pierre-Frédéric Weber. It would probably be an exaggeration to say that “Traumaland” offers a collective psychoanalysis of the Polish soul. Nevertheless, the book contains much of the knowledge needed to address the traumas of the 20th century in a conscious and mature manner.

In his book, Michał Bilewicz explains how difficult history and collective trauma affect the thinking of contemporary Poles, and points to behavior patterns that we have “inherited” from our ancestors.

Dr hab. Michał Bilewicz, Professor at the University of Warsaw, heads the Center for Research on Prejudice at the univer­sity’s Faculty of Psychology. His research interests include psychological mecha­nisms of reconciliation, collective mem­ory, trauma, and prejudice.

Honorary mention:

• Tomasz Ceran, Zbrodnia pomorska 1939. Początek ludobójstwa niemieckiego w okupowanej Polsce, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej

The book recounts the extermination of the Polish and Jewish civilian populace in Pomerania in the first months of the German occupation. Drawing in part on previously unused materials from the Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigs­burg, the author analyzes the causes, development and consequences of the crime, while also evoking Raphael Lem­kin’s concept of genocide.

Dr hab. Tomasz Ceran works at the By­dgoszcz Branch of the Institute of Nation­al Remembrance. His research focuses on the history of ideas, the theory of to­talitarianism, genocide studies and the German occupation of Gdańsk Pomera­nia and Kuyavia.

Category: Historical Reportage

– for the best book that offers the reader an engaging story about the experience of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe of confronting totalitarianism in the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on Poland. In addition to classic historical reportages, biographies, memoirs and accounts of witnesses to history may also be submitted in this category.

Main prize

• Emil Marat, Bratny. Hamlet rozstrzelany, Wydawnictwo Czarne

While writing the winning publication, the author made good use of the capital he had accumulated over the years as an experienced, acclaimed and award-winning reporter and writer. He has been writing about Bratny for years, said Aneta Prymaka-Oniszk, a member of the Awards Committee, in her commendation speech. It can be said, therefore, that “Bratny, Hamlet rozstrzelany” has been long in the making, perhaps even before Emil Marat had realized it himself. This is the magic that combines many years of hard work, perseverance and experience – including that ordinary human experience – with a youthful passion to produce wonderful books, emphasized Aneta Prymaka-Oniszk.

The author of Kolumbowie. Rocznik 20, a book that has shaped the collective memory of the Warsaw Uprising among several generations of Poles, is right­fully dubbed “the Polish Hemingway”. A notorious womanizer and a troubled father, he had both conflicted feelings and conflicted views. The biography of Roman Bratny takes a closer look at his complex personality, while also explor­ing his legacy in Polish culture.

Emil Marat is a journalist and a non-fic­tion author. Bratny. Hamlet rozstrzelany is the final book in his trilogy about the protagonists of the Kolumbowie. Rocznik 20 novel, after Made in Poland (co-written with Michał Wójcik) and Sen Kolumba.

The Awards Committee did not present an honorary mention in this category owing to an equally high standard of all the nominated publications.

Category: Special Prize

– for the best book that bears testimony to the criminal actions of contemporary totalitarian and authoritarian systems, describes the tragic fate of populations affected by wars and armed conflicts, and condemns deliber­ate and persistent violation of human rights.

• Maksym Eristavi, Russian Colonialism 101. How to Occupy a Neighbor and Get Away with It. An Illustrated Guide, IST Publishing

Just before Russia’s attack, the Ukrainian journalist went online to publish a list of Russian invasions in recent decades. His post immediately went viral. In cooperation with other Ukraini­an artists, the author transformed it in­to an illustrated “guide to Russian inva­sions”, hoping to bring public attention to the aggressor’s pattern of behavior and long-standing impunity.

Maksym Eristavi is a journalist, podcast­er and author of multimedia educational projects. His works combine investiga­tive journalism with storytelling to expose Russia’s imperial politics.

It is a visually appealing, minimalist guide to Russian imperialism, said Krzysztof Kosior, the great-grandson of Witold Pilecki and a member of the Awards Committee, in his commendation speech. This approach is unique, even groundbreaking, as it draws on the Internet meme culture, where an image with a short comment refers to an event or a situation.

This concept, which is both innovative and very modern, made a deep impression on me. Behind each drawing and each note, there are carefully selected sources: quotes from historical publications, the press, public statements and other materials available online. Each element offers a comment, but it for the readers to decide whether it is pertinent or not, as they discover further details and contexts, emphasized Krzysztof Kosior.

Honorary mention:

• Maria Buko, Drugie pokolenie obozowe. Pamięć i doświadczenie potomków polskich więźniów niemieckich nazistowskich obozów koncentracyjnych, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK

The Second World War finds an echo not only in the memoirs of its witness­es or in political disputes. The har­rowing experiences of people who survived the German totalitarian hell marked the lives of their children – the second camp generation. The book presents the author’s findings from ex­tensive research on transgenerational trauma, while also giving sympathetic expression to everyday life stamped with pain.

Dr. Maria Buko is a social scientist, histo­rian, documentarian, and oral history re­searcher. She studies autobiographical, intergenerational and collective mem­ory, as well as its social and historical contexts.