Founders of the Institute

Piotr M.A. Cywiński, PhD

Doctor of humanities, medieval historian, graduate of Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, the Catholic University of Lublin, and the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Science. Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim since 2006.

A member of the International Auschwitz Council, and its secretary in the years 2000-2006. Co-founder and President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, President of the Memorials Management Society, Chairperson of the Institute Council.

Between 2009-2017, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, which was under construction at that time. A member since 2010, and from 2011 a board member of the Maison d’Izieu Memorial in France. In 2015, he was admitted as a member of Moscow’s “Memorial”. In 2017, he was appointed Chairperson of the Programme Council of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Author of numerous books, the most noteworthy of which are: “Epitaph... and other written concerns”, five volumes of the series “Place of Truth”: “The beginning of Auschwitz in memory of the first transport of Polish political prisoners”, “The Holocaust in memory of the Sonderkommando prisoners”, “The Death March in memory of the evacuated prisoners of Auschwitz”, “Camp Dreams in memory of Auschwitz survivors” and “The camp ramp in memory of Jews deported to Auschwitz”.

Maria Anna Ossolińska

Graduate of sociology at the University of Warsaw, and postgraduate studies in the management of non-governmental organisations at Collegium Civitas. In the years 2006-2010, Deputy Director of the Polish Institute in Vienna. Between 2010 and 2016 an expert on culture and national heritage in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. She has worked at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum since 2017 and headed the Diplomacy of Remembrance team since the beginning of 2018.

Wojciech Soczewica

Graduate of the Institute of International Relations of the University of Warsaw and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then at the Office of the Polish Prime Minister’s Plenipotentiary for International Dialogue. Between 2013 - 2015, Director of the International Cooperation Team of the Ombudsman’s Office. Since November 2015, Deputy Director for International Cooperation at the Warsaw City Hall. Director-General of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation since January 2018.