BOARD MEMBERS in 2020-2024
The Polish History Museum
Prof. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski – professor of History at University College London specialising in the Polish-Lithuanian Union. Head of the European Civilisation Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin and associate professor at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. His academic interests concern the intersection of the history of politics, culture, religion and ideas in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the 18th century. His books include The Polish Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1788-1792: A Political History. Dr Jolanta Choińska-Mika – historian and lecturer at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw and its Vice-Rector. Author of works concerning modern history of Mazovia, parliamentarism and social communication in modern times; she has collaborated with, inter alia, the Ministry of National Education in preparing the draft core school curriculum in History and Civic Education. Since 2009, associate professor of the University of Warsaw. In 2005– 2012, deputy director of the Institute of History in charge of Student Affairs. Since 2008, member of the University Senate’s Committee on Graduate and Doctoral Students and the Educational Process. Member of the Polish Historical Society, the Stanisław of Skalbmierz Society and the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions. Author of the book Między społeczeństwem szlacheckim a władzą. Problemy komunikacji: społeczności lokalne - władza w epoce Jana Kazimierza [Between szlachta-based society and those in power: local communities – power in the time of King John Casimir].
Prof. Andrzej Chwalba – historian and lecturer at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. In 1999–2005, the University’s Vice-Rector in charge of Education. Author of 20 monographs and research summaries (e.g. Samobójstwo Europy. Wielka Wojna 1914-1918 [Europe’s suicide. The Great War of 1914–1918]), university textbooks and several foreign-language publications. Eminent expert in the religious, social, cultural and civilisational aspects of Polish and European history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Researcher of the history of Kraków. In 2018, his book Wielka Wojna Polaków 1914–1918 [The Poles’ Great War of 1914–1918] won the First Prize in the Janusz Kurtyka competition and the main prize in the Oskar Halecki Historical Book of the Year competition. In 2005, he received a Gold Cross of Merit and in 2019 a Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Prof. Wojciech Fałkowski – historian mediaevalist and academic teacher. Activist of the anti- communist opposition in the Polish People’s Republic. In 2015–2017, undersecretary of state in the Ministry of National Defence and since 2017 director of the Royal Castle w Warsaw. In 1993–2001, secretary general of the Polish National Committee for UNESCO and in 2004–2005 chair of the taskforce working for the capital city of Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczyński on appraising the losses sustained by Warsaw and its residents during the German occupation of 1939–1945. Member of the Free Speech Association. Distinguished with a Gold Cross of Merit and an Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Authors of such books as Elita władzy w Polsce za panowania Kazimierza Jagiellończyka [The ruling elite in Poland under King Casimir the Jagiellonian] and Pierwsze stulecie Jagiellonów [The first century of the rule of the Jagiellonians].
Paulina Florjanowicz – director of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Former director of the National Centre for Historical Monument Studies and Documentation, then (2011) transformed into the National Heritage Board of Poland. Author of numerous publications concerning culture policies, heritage education and promotion of historical monuments.
Dr Dorota Folga-Januszewska – art historian, museologist and critic. Since 2008, professor at the Institute of History of Art of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Since 2011, director of the Museum Studies at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, since 2013 head of the Chair of Museum Studies at the Faculty of the Humanities of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Member of the International Council of Museums ICOM. Since 2013, president of the ICOM National Committee Poland and since 2005 member of the EU’s eight-person expert group on museums (Culture Unit). Author of more than 300 books, catalogues, articles and analytical contributions concerning 20th-century art, museology and art theory from the 16th until 20 centuries and author of scripts for approximately 50 exhibitions. Distinguished with, inter alia, a Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2005) and a Silver Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis (2015).
Dr Adolf Juzwenko – historian and activist of the democratic opposition in the Polish People’s Republic. Director of the National Ossoliński Institute. He received a PhD title from the University of Wrocław, where he focused on researching the Polish pro-independence movement as well as Polish-Russian relations in the 19th and 20th centuries and Russian history. Author of many historical publications, mostly concerning Polish-Russian relations, such as his seminal book Polska a
Dr Zdzisław Krasnodębski – sociologist, social philosopher, commentator, doctor of the Humanities, professor of the University of Bremen, Member of the European Parliament in its 8th and 9th terms, Vice-President of the EP in its 8th term. Member of the Sociology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1999–2006) and the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (2007–2010, and then since 2015). President of the Council of the Zygmunt Wojciechowski West Institute in Poznań. From 2007 until 2009, member of the Public Service Council at the President of the Council of Ministers. In 2010, appointed member of the National Development Council by Polish president Lech Kaczyński. His research interests include sociological theories and socio-political philosophy (in particular liberalism and conservatism) as well as Polish-German relations and European integration.
Prof. Krzysztof Mikulski – professor of the Humanities, head of the Economic History Department and lecturer at the Institute of History and Archival Sciences of the Nicholas Copernicus University in Toruń. He specialises in the history of cities and burghers, historical demography, economic and social history as well as prosopography and genealogy of the Polish szlachta in the Middle Ages and modern times. Author of the book Mikołaj Kopernik - środowisko społeczne, pochodzenie i młodość [Nicholas Copernicus: his social background, origins and youth]. In 2015, he became president of the Polish Historical Society for the second time.
Prof. Alvydas Nikžentaitis – Lithuanian historian and lecturer of the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, director of the Institute of Lithuanian History. He was awarded an Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by a decision of the Polish president of 30 June 2009 ‘for his outstanding contribution to the development of cooperation between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Lithuania and promotion of knowledge about the common historical heritage of the nations making up the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’. He specialises in historical memory and medieval history, including the relations between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Order, the history of Samogitia, that of Lithuanian-German relations as well as the social history of medieval Lithuania. In 2000, his book Witold i Jagiełło: Polacy i Litwini we wzajemnym stereotypie [Vytautas and Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila): The Poles and Lithuanians seen through their mutual stereotypes] was published in Poland.
Prof. Andrzej Nowak – historian, commentator, Sovietologist, professor of the Jagiellonian University, head of the unit of Russian and Soviet history at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, former editor-in-chief of the Arcana biweekly. Member of the Council of the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe and the Polish-Russian Historical Commission of the Polish and Russian Academies of Sciences, the Central-European and Eastern-European Commissions of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the editorial boards of the periodicals Kwartalnik Historyczny and Dzieje Najnowsze. In October 2015, he became member of the National Development Council established by the Polish president. His publications include Jak rozbić rosyjskie imperium [How to dismantle the Russian empire], Polska i
Bronisław Wildstein – writer, commentator and journalist. At the beginning of his university studies, he became involved in opposition activity, e.g. cooperated with the Workers’ Defence Committee and was of the founders of the Student Committee of Solidarity in Kraków in 1977 as well as the Independent Student’s Association in Kraków. During martial law, he stayed in France, where he was, inter alia, an editor of the Kontakt monthly and a correspondent of Radio Free Europa. After 1989, he collaborated with numerous press outlets and hosted TV programmes. In 2006–2007, board president of Polish Television. Since 2016, member of the College of the Institute of National Remembrance. Recipient of such distinctions as the Kościelski Foundation Award, Andrzej Kijowski Award, Józef Mackiewicz Literary Award as well as the annual Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage in the Literature category (2018). In 2016, he received the Order of the White Eagle.
Małgorzata Zakrzewska – Vice-Chair of the Commission of Culture and Promotion of the City of Warsaw and since 2006 Warsaw City Councillor. A former representative of the director of the National Film Archive and president of the programme council of the RDC radio station.