Katarzyna Winiarska is a PhD candidate in the field of sociological sciences at the Doctoral School of Social Science at the University of Warsaw. She received multiple awards for her public history activities. The subject of her dissertation, The history of the Jews in Białowieża – between historical reality and social memory, arises from her long-standing activities in Białowieża to restore the memory of the Jewish community living there. Among other things, Winiarska created the Virtual Museum of Jewish History in Białowieża (www.jewish-bialowieza.pl), erected a monument to Holocaust victims, conducts popularizing activities in the local Białowieża community, and builds relationships with descendants of Białowieża Jews.
In her dissertation, Winiarska investigates the fate of the Jewish residents of Białowieża between the wars and during the Holocaust and the fate of the few survivors and pre-war emigrants after the Holocaust from a micro-historical perspective. She examines how the history of the Jewish community in Białowieża and the daily relations between residents and the fate of Jews in the area during the Holocaust were influenced by the specific historical context (Białowieża has only been part of Poland since 1918). She is also interested in the complex national-religious structure of the locality (numerically dominated by the Belarusian Orthodox minority, alongside the Jewish community and numerically the smallest Polish-Catholic community). Winiarska relies on a variety of archival sources and ego documents, as well as on her own collection of oral accounts from non-Jewish witnesses, which she subjects to both historical analysis and analysis of the residents’ narratives looking for reflections about the pre-war reality.