Nominations for the Witold Pilecki International Book Award - Instytut Pileckiego

We now know the authors nominated for the Witold Pilecki International Book Award! The Award Committee has selected 15 publications to compete for cash prizes of 75,000 złoty and commemorative statuettes in 3 different categories.

By awarding the Witold Pilecki International Book Award we aim to recognize the significance of the universal message stemming from the experience of the 20th-century totalitarianisms. We wish to acknowledge texts which promote the fundamental values of human dignity, striving for the truth, willingness to sacrifice, and solidarity with the persecuted. 

The prize will be awarded to authors of the best academic and journalistic Polish- or English-language books published in the previous year and devoted to the Polish experience of two totalitarianisms. A special prize will be awarded for a book concerning ongoing military conflicts and places where human dignity is particularly endangered.

The authors of the best books in each category will receive PLN 75,000 (ca. EUR 17,000) and a commemorative statuette.

The Award Committee has selected 15 publications in 3 different categories:

Category 1. Academic history book – the best monograph or synthesis concerning the Polish experience of the confrontation with two 20th-century totalitarian regimes. 

• Eliyana R. Adler, Survival on the Margins: Polish Jewish Refugees in the Wartime Soviet Union, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts-London 2020.
• Andrzej Chwalba, Przegrane zwycięstwo. Wojna polsko-bolszewicka 1918-1920, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2020.
• Tomasz Kurpierz, Henryk Sławik 1894-1944. Biografia socjalisty, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Katowice-Warszawa 2020.
• Molly Pucci, Security Empire: The Secret Police in Communist Eastern Europe, Yale University Press, New Haven-London 2020.
• Paweł Skibiński, Odnowa tej ziemi. I Pielgrzymka Jana Pawła II do Polski, czerwiec 1979, Centrum Myśli Jana Pawła II, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa 2020.

Category 2. Historical reportage – a captivating depiction of the Polish experience of two 20th-century totalitarianisms:

• Ewa K. Czaczkowska, Prymas Wyszyński. Wiara, nadzieja, miłość, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2020.
• Filip Gańczak, Jan Sehn. Tropiciel nazistów, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2020.
• Dorota Karaś i Marek Sterlingow, Walentynowicz. Anna szuka raju, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2020.
• Beata Majchrowska, Więcej niż Enigma. Historia Antoniego Pallutha, Klinika Języka, Szczęsne 2020.
• Zbigniew Rokita, Kajś. Opowieść o Górnym Śląsku, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2020.

Category 3. The special prize for war correspondents – awarded for books which provide reliable information concerning ongoing military conflicts or places where human dignity is particularly endangered. 

• Carmela S. Fonbuena, Marawi Siege. Stories from the Front Lines, Journalism for Nation Building Foundation, Manila 2020.
• Carlos Sardiña Galache, The Burmese Labyrinth: A History of Rohingya Tragedy, Verso, London-New York 2020.
• Christina Lamb, Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women, William Collins, London 2020.
• Myra MacDonald, White as the Shroud. India, Pakistan and War on the Frontiers of Kashmir, Hurst & Company, London 2020.
• Danielle Vella, Dying to Live: Stories from Refugees on the Road to Freedom, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham-Boulder-New York-London 2020.

The winners will be announced during the gala that will take place on 17 November 2021 in the Kubicki Arcades at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

The partner of the award is the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. The Witold Pilecki International Book Award is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.

Biographical notes about the authors

Category 1

Eliyana R. Adler – professor of History and Jewish Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Author of In Her Hands: The Education of Jewish Girls in Tsarist Russia among others, winner of the Heldt Prize.

Andrzej Chwalba – historian and essayist, professor of Humanities, director of the Department of Historical Anthropology at the Jagiellonian University, deputy chair of the Polish Historical Society. Author of more than 20 books, including Samobójstwo Europy. Wielka Wojna 1914–1918, winner of numerous awards.

Tomasz Kurpierz – historian, employee of the Institute of National Remembrance in Katowice, specializes in the political and social history of Upper Silesia in the 20th Century, biographer. Author and co-author of several books, including Zbuntowani. Niezależne Zrzeszenie Studentów w województwie katowickim 1980–1989.

Molly Pucci – lecturer in European History at Trinity College in Dublin. Her research focuses on a comparative history of Communism in 20th-Century Europe and the history of secret services. Winner of the Radomír Luža Prize in Central European History.

Paweł Skibiński – professor and scholar at the Institute of History at the University of Warsaw. Specializes in the history of the 20th Century, the history of the Catholic Church in the 20th Century and the history of Spain in the 20th Century. Author of several books, including Państwo generała Franco: ustrój Hiszpanii w latach 1936–1967.

Category 2

Ewa K. Czaczkowska – journalist, historian. Formerly associated with the “Rzeczpospolita” newspaper, currently a lecturer at the Institute of Media and Journalism at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Author of Siostra Faustyna. Biografia Świętej, among others.

Filip Gańczak – journalist, political scientist, employee of the Institute of National Remembrance. Specializes in German and Polish-German issues. Author of Polski nie oddamy. Władze NRD wobec wydarzeń w PRL 1980–1981, among others.

Beata Majchrowska – journalist, photographer and editor. Author of books on architecture, interior design and photography, including Tadeusz Rolke. Fotografie 1944–2005.

Dorota Karaś – journalist for the Tricity office of the “Gazeta Wyborcza” newspaper, author of Cybulski. Podwójne salto, among others.

Zbigniew Rokita – reporter, editor. Specializes in issues related to Eastern Europe and Upper Silesia. Associated with the “Tygodnik Powszechny” and “Polityka” weeklies, among others. Author of the book Królowie strzelców. Piłka w cieniu imperium about the relationship between sport and politics in Eastern Europe.

Marek Sterlingow – journalist for the Tricity office of the “Gazeta Wyborcza” newspaper, co-author of the book Narodziny „Solidarności”. Kroniki sierpniowe.

Category 3

Carmela Fonbuena – journalist specialized in issues related to the security and political life of the Philippines, director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Formerly a correspondent for the website Rappler, currently writes for “The Guardian”.

Carlos Sardiña Galache – Spanish journalist specialized in issues related to Myanmar, particularly the persecution of the Rohingya, for more than a decade. Published in “Al-Jazeera English”, “The Christian Science Monitor”, and “The Bangkok Post”, among others.

Christina Lamb – a renowned British correspondent, journalist for “The Sunday Times”, winner of numerous awards. Author of several books, including Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World.

Myra MacDonald – journalist specialized in issues related to Southern Asia. Correspondent for Reuters for nearly 30 years, author of several books, including Defeat is an Orphan: How Pakistan Lost the Great South.

Danielle Vella – employed with the Jesuit Refugee Service for many years, specialist in refugee issues, journalist formerly associated with Vatican Radio and “The Tablet”, among others. Author of several books, including Journeys of Hope – Stories of refugees on the way to Europe.