"The Jews in Guerrilla Units in Polish Forests"
Professional Background
Dr. August Grabski is an assistant professor at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (Poland). He received his PhD in Jewish studies from the University of Warsaw. Dr. Grabski is fluent in Polish and English, and has proficiency in French, Russian, and Yiddish. While in residence at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Grabski conducted research on his project, "The Jews in Guerrilla Units in Polish Forests."
Dr. Grabski’s publications in Polish include: The Central Committee of Polish Jews (1944-1950). A Political History (Jewish Historical Institute/ZIH, 2015), and The Left Against Israel. Studies on the Jewish Left Anti-Zionism (ZIH and Trio, 2008). He has co-authored The Jewish Military Union (ZZW). A Restored History (ZIH, 2008), and The Activity of Communists among Jews in Poland (1944-1949) (ZIH Trio, 2004). Along with Agata Nowakowska, Dr. Grabski also co-authored The Decades: 1995-2005 (Oficyna Imbir : Agencja Autorska Zetzet, 2006), which has sold over 100,000 copies. He is the author of many scholarly articles including Jews and Political Life in Poland from 1944 to 1949, (F. Tych, M. Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska eds.), Jewish Presence in Absence. The Aftermath of Holocaust in Poland, 1944-2010, (Yad Vashem, 2014), and Jewish Religious Life in Poland after the Holocaust, (F. Tych, M. Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska eds.), and co-authored Jewish Presence in Absence. The Aftermath of Holocaust in Poland, 1944-2010, (Yad Vashem, 2014). Finally, he has edited Rebels Against Zion. Studies on the Jewish Anti-Zionist Left (2011) and co-edited Nations and Politics Studies, which is dedicated to Prof. Jerzy Tomaszewski (2010) in English and Polish, respectively.
Fellowship Research
During his Miles Lerman Center for the Study of Jewish Resistance Fellowship, Dr. Grabski analyzed the archival and library collections held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum concerning Jews in partisan units. Through this research he hopes to describe Jewish partisan group origins, memberships, relations with the Home Army (AK), Polish Communists, Russian partisan groups, armed struggles against Nazis and NSZ groups, inter-etnic and gender relations in troops, relations with local population, and the post-liberation fates of their fighters. He merged his findings from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with findings from documents found in collections held by the Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), the Archive of New Documents (AAN), the Institute of National Memory (IPN), and the Yad Vashem Archive; the results of which he hopes to publish as a monograph.
Dr. August Grabski was in residence at the Museum from July 1 to December 31, 2015.