Poisoned Land: The Lives of Local Polish and Jewish Communities in the Shadow of Treblinka I and Treblinka II

On November 25, 2025, a research seminar entitled Poisoned Land: The Lives of Local Polish and Jewish Communities in the Shadow of Treblinka I and Treblinka II was held, presented by Michał Kowalski.

In his doctoral dissertation Poisoned Land, written under the supervision of Prof. Bożena Szaynok between 2020 and 2025, Michał Kowalski provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of Treblinka I and Treblinka II on the communities and landscapes of the Sokołów and Węgrów counties. The author demonstrates how the operation of these camps during World War II led to profound social, moral, and material devastation for the people living in the region.

During the seminar, the author presented the main conclusions of the project and discussed the sources used. He also showcased selected archival materials and photographs that had not previously been published.

Michał Kowalski – graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Gdańsk and of postgraduate Polish–Jewish Studies at the Institute of Literature of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). He has been a recipient of scholarships, including from the Claims Conference Against Germany, the GEOP program implemented by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, EHRI, the “Holocaust Witnesses” project, and the project “Socio-Political Radicalization of the Polish Provinces during the Great Depression and Its Consequences: The Case of Greater Poland in Comparative Perspective (1929–1939).” He specializes in issues related to the pre-war Polish provinces and the period of World War II in this region.

*** Photo: View of the ruins of the Jewish quarter in Węgrów. Spring 1943, Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance.

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