Oppositional Engagement of Women in Authoritarian and Totalitarian Systems of the 20th Century: Poland in a Comparative European Perspective (1919–1989) - Instytut Pileckiego

We invite scholars to participate in an international academic conference devoted to various forms of activity undertaken by women who engaged in opposition and dissent under authoritarian and totalitarian rule in the 20th century.

The Augustów Roundup Memorial House, 8–10 July 2026

The main focus will be on Poland in the years 1919–1989, against the comparative background of experiences of other European countries. This will be the second academic debate in a series devoted to the lives and activities of women in authoritarian and totalitarian systems.

The aim of the conference is to provide forum for interdisciplinary reflection on women’s strategies for resistance, their social and political contexts, their consequences and the memory of these experiences. The fates of both individual women and entire groups who engaged in the opposition in its broadest sense to authoritarian and totalitarian rule will be analyzed. Particular attention will be devoted to those women who initially operated within formal power structures, but subsequently chose resistance and opposition to the state-imposed order. Authoritarian and totalitarian systems developed extensive mechanisms of control, violence and repression, which particularly affected women – both individuals engaged in opposition activities and entire groups deemed “dangerous” by the authorities. The conference will provide an opportunity to discuss methods employed by the power apparatus: surveillance, blackmail, administrative pressure, economic repression, arrest, imprisonment and deportation.

The following thematic panels are planned:

• Women’s biographies and their oppositional activities;
• The oppositional activity of women’s groups;
• Forms of women’s engagement in opposition to the authorities;
• Repressions against women (institutions, people, methods, consequences).

We invite scholars interested in women’s history, study of the apparatus of repression, political and social history, and an analysis of forms of resistance and strategies for survival in the realities of systemic oppression.

Paper proposals, including abstracts (up to 1,000 characters) together with short biography (up to 200 characters) can be submitted by 1 May 2026 to the following address: konferencja.kobiety@instytutpileckiego.pl

You will be notified of acceptance by 15 June 2026.

Papers selected for publication will undergo the review process and, upon receiving positive reviews, will be published in 2027 in the form of a monograph by a publishing house listed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The organizers provide accommodation for two nights, board and reimbursement of travel expenses. There is no conference fee. Should this prove feasible, the Warsaw-Augustów-Warsaw transport will also be provided.

International academic conference

Organizer: Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor

Co-organizers: University of Białystok, Institute of Women’s Studies

Dates: 8–10 July 2026

Conference language: Polish and English (simultaneous interpretation will be provided)

Venue: Branch of the Pilecki Institute: The Augustów Roundup Memorial House, Augustów, 3 Maja Street 16, conference room, 1st floor

The project is financed by the state budget under the Wektory Nauki program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.