2017 Jan Karski & Pola Nirenska Award

The Jury of the Jan Karski and Pola Nirenska Award is pleased to announce that Dr. Eleonora Bergman and Prof. Tadeusz Epsztein of Warsaw, Poland were named the recipients of the Karski Award for the year 2017, for their work on coordinating the publication of the Ringelblum Archive. This annual award was endowed by Prof. Jan Karski in 1992 for an author of published works documenting Polish-Jewish relations and Jewish contributions to Polish culture.

The winners were chosen by the Award Jury whose members are Prof. Pawel Spiewak (Director, Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw), Dr. Jonathan Brent (Executive Director, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research), Dr. Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov, Prof. Szymon Rudnicki, and Dr. Joachim S. Russek.

Eleonora Bergman graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology; she received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the Institute of the Art History of the Warsaw University. Since the early 1980s she has been involved in research, documentation and conservation of Jewish historical monuments, especially synagogues. She joined the staff of the Jewish Historical Institute in 1991, and served as its Deputy Director from 1996 – 1997 and again from 2001 – 2006. In 2007 she was appointed Director of the Institute, and served in that position until 2011.  From 2000 – 2006, she curated and co-curated several versions of an exhibition about the Ringelblum Archive, which was shown in Germany, USA, France and Spain.  Since 2004, she has been involved in fundraising for and preparation of the Ringelblum Archive edition and since 2009, she and Professor Tadeusz Epsztein have led the planning and publication project for the entire collection.  Dr. Bergman is a Fellow of the ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) in Rome, and was twice a fellow of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York; In 2012, she was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the Government of France.

Her publications include: Nurt mauretański w architekturze synagog Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej w XIX i na początku XX wieku, Warszawa 2004  [The Moorish Trend in the Architecture of Synagogues in Central-Eastern Europe in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries; Warsaw 2004]; Nie masz bóżnicy powszechnej”: synagogi i domy modlitwy w Warszawie od końca XVIII do początku XXI wieku, Warszawa 2007 [“There is no Common House of Prayer:” Synagogues of Warsaw from the Late 18th until the Early 21st Centuries; Warsaw 2007], and over 50 papers, in Poland and abroad, on the history, preservation and documentation of historical monuments and on the history of the Ringelblum Archive.

Among the Ringelblum volumes, she has co-edited: t. 17, Prasa konspiracyjna getta warszawskiego: Poalej Syjon Lewica i Poalej Syjon Prawica, Warszawa 2016 (z Tadeuszem Epszteinem i Maciejem Wójcickim) [Vol. 17: Underground Press of the Warsaw Ghetto: Poale’ Tsiyon Left and Poale’ Tsiyon Right, with Tadeusz Epsztein and Maciej Wójcicki, co-editors, Warsaw 2016]; t. 30, Pisma Chaskiela Wilczyńskiego (z Tadeuszem Epszteinem)  [Vol. 30, Writings of Chaskiel Wilczyński, with Tadeusz Epsztein, in press]; and t. 32, Pisma rabina Szymona Huberbanda (z Anną Ciałowicz) [Vol. 32, Writings of Rabbi Szymon Huberband, with Anna Ciałowicz, in press].

Tadeusz Epsztein graduated from the Department of History of the Warsaw University in 1985. From 1985 - 1988 he worked in the Archive of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. In 1988, he began working in the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in 1996, and the post-doctoral degree in 2006. He has been a professor at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences since 2010. His fields of research are the history of the Polish landed gentry in the 19th and 20th centuries, the editing of historical sources, and archival science. Since 1996, he has been a permanent collaborator of the Jewish Historical Institute, where he has helped organize the archival collections. He has authored and co-authored over a dozen archival catalogs, including the new catalog of the Ringelblum Archive. Since 2009, he has been co-coordinator of the Ringelblum Archive publication project, together with Eleonora Bergman.

His publications include Edukacja dzieci i młodzieży w polskich rodzinach ziemiańskich na Wołyniu, Podolu i Ukrainie w latach 1864-1914, Warszawa 1998 [The Education of Children and Youth in Polish Landowning Families in Volhynia, Podolia and Ukraine in the years 1864-1914, Warsaw 1998]; Z piórem i paletą. Zainteresowania intelektualne i artystyczne ziemiaństwa polskiego na Ukrainie w II połowie XIX w., Warszawa 2005 [With Pen and Palette: Intellectual and Artistic Interests of Polish Landed Gentry in Ukraine in the 2nd Half of the 19th Century, Warsaw 2005] ; Polska własność ziemska na Ukrainie (gubernia kijowska, podolska i wołyńska) w 1890 r., Warszawa 2008 [Polish Landed Property in Ukraine (Kiev, Podolia and Volhyn Gubernyas) in 1890, Warsaw 2008]; Własność ziemska na Ukrainie w 1860 r. w Statystyce Andrzeja Grabianki, Warszawa 2013 [Polish Landed Property in Ukraine in 1860 in the Statistics of Andrzej Grabianka, Warsaw 2013]; Wielka własność ziemska w guberni podolskiej w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku, Warszawa 2017 [Large Landed Property in Podolia Gubernya in the First Half of the 19th Century, Warsaw 2017]. He is an editor of the lexicon:  Ziemianie polscy XX wieku. Słownik biograficzny. [Polish Landed Gentry of the 20th Century: A Biographical Lexicon]. He co-authored, together with Robert Moses Shapiro, The Warsaw Ghetto Oyneg Shabes - Ringelblum Archive: Catalog and Guide, Bloomington and Indianapolis 2009, published in Polish as Inwentarz Archiwum Ringelbluma, Warszawa 2011 [Catalog of the Ringelblum Archive, Warsaw 2011].

Among the Ringelblum volumes, he has edited or co-edited: t. 11, Ludzie i prace «Oneg Szabat», Warszawa 2013 (razem z Aleksandrą Bańkowską) [Vol. 11: People and Works of “Oyneg Shabes,” with Aleksandra Bańkowska, Warsaw 2013]; t. 15, Wrzesień 1939. Listy kaliskie. Listy płockie, Warszawa 2014 (razem z Aleksandrą Bańkowską i Justyną Majewską) [Vol. 15: September 1939; Letters from Kalisz and Płock, with Aleksandra Bańkowska and Justyna Majewska, Warsaw 2014]; t. 33-34, Getto warszawskie, cz. I i II, Warszawa 2016 (t. 33: razem z Katarzyną Person) [Vols. 33 and 34, Warsaw Ghetto, Part 1 and 2, Vol. 33 with Katarzyna Person, Warsaw 2016].