Sharing our research in Poland

This spring, Catherine and I travelled to Poland to present our project at two research events.

We opened with a keynote at the CEMORY: Forgotten Voices conference, held 20–21 March at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (https://cemory.project.uj.edu.pl/conference/forgottenvoices-1)

Our talk, "Margins of Identity: Jewish Soldiers in the Polish Army in Britain – Prejudice, Belonging, and the Struggle for Recognition," explored the tension between Jewish servicemen's contribution to the Allied war effort and the prejudice they faced within their own ranks, and how questions of identity and belonging shaped their everyday lives.

The following week, we gave a second keynote in Warsaw, at a seminar hosted by the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, titled "The Impossibility of Change? A Critique of Culture (and Science)." Our lecture, "Jewish Agency and Resistance in the Polish Army in Exile (1940–1945)," presented our latest findings.

Presenting at both events reminded us how much interdisciplinary research can reshape our understanding of the past. By bringing forward voices that have long been sidelined, we hope to restore some visibility to Jewish soldiers whose stories deserve to be better known, and to prompt reflection on questions of belonging and recognition that still resonate today.

We're grateful to everyone who joined the conversation in Kraków and Warsaw