Staff profile

I am a cultural historian of modern East-Central Europe, specialising in twentieth-century Polish history. My doctoral thesis (defended December 2023) examined communist attempts to build a usable past in Poland between 1945 and 1956 by focusing on the role of museums – local, national and regional – and their exhibitions and public engagement. My primary area of expertise is the social and cultural history of modern Poland (especially during the communist period), and I am particularly interested in the history of Polish-German relations and the issue of the so-called ‘Reclaimed Lands’ (the formerly German territories which became part of the Polish state following its post-war territorial shift westward). I also have a long-standing interest in memory studies, public history and museology, alongside a variety of broader East-Central European themes.

I pursued a non-conventional path to higher education, and – having been twice shortlisted for an International Undergraduate Award – was able to pursue an MA at Durham University thanks to funding from an Arts and Humanities Faculty Award. My doctoral research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council via the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership. I am also keen to promote engagement with history beyond the world of academia, and to this end I deliver a varied programme of talks to a range of local community groups and history societies.  

Publications

• ‘Ancient Polish lands’: narratives of polskość in the Silesian Museum in Wrocław, 1948-1956’, in Magdalena Gibiec, Robert Klementowski, Wojciech Kucharski and Marek Szajda, eds., Konflict – stabilizacja – asymilacja? Konsekwencje migracji w życiu mieszkańców Dolnego Śląska po 1945 roku (Wrocław, 2022)

Conference Papers

• ‘Ancient Polish lands’: narratives of polskość in the Silesian Museum in Wrocław, 1948-1956 (Centrum Historii Zajezdnia, Wrocław, September 2021)
• Między myślą zachodnią a myślą marksistowską: polityka, kultura i muzealnictwo na ziemiach zachodnich, 1948-1956 (University of Warsaw, May 2022)
• Museums in the ‘Reclaimed Lands’: an outline sketch of museological development in Pomerania and Lower Silesia, 1945-1956 (National Museum in Szczecin, September 2022)
• Between east and west: the National Museum in Warsaw under Stalinism (PIASA World Congress, Warsaw, June 2024) 

Research Interests

• Cultural, social, and political history of modern Poland and East-Central Europe
• Museology and public history
• Memory studies
• Borderland studies
• Polish-German relations and the history of the 'Reclaimed Lands'
• Cultural life under Stalinism
• Urban culture under state socialism