The Polish Institute in Tel Aviv is pleased to invite the public to a special meeting with Anna Bikont, an acclaimed journalist, writer, and researcher, one of the leading voices in contemporary Polish literature and journalism.

Bikont co-founded an underground weekly for the Solidarity movement and, in 1989, was among the founders of Gazeta Wyborcza – the first independent daily in post-Communist Europe and Poland’s leading newspaper to this day. Her books have been translated into many languages, including French, English, Italian, Chinese, Czech, and German. Notable works include The Crime and the Silence: Confronting the Massacre of the Jews in Wartime Jedwabne, and Sendler: In hiding, both published in Hebrew by Carmel Publishing, translated by Miriam Bornstein.

Bikont received the European Book Prize and the National Jewish Book Award for The Crime and the Silence: Confronting the Massacre of the Jews in Wartime Jedwabne.. In 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University. Her latest book, Not the End, Not the Beginning. The Postwar Choices of Polish Jews, was published in Poland in 2025. She is known for her in-depth research on Holocaust memory, Jewish-Polish identity, and the postwar experience of Polish society.

Her work focuses on the fate of Holocaust survivors in Poland in the years following World War II – a history that was long silenced and demanded to be told. Her writing combines human empathy, journalistic precision, and the courage to uncover hidden chapters of history.

During the meeting, Bikont will discuss her work, research and writing processes, and the challenges of uncovering forgotten stories from Polish Jewish history. She will share insights into the craft of documentation and the role of literature in preserving collective memory of the Holocaust and the fate of the Jewish community after the war.

The event will be held in Polish, led by Danny Tracz – publisher and patron of Polish culture in Israel.

Friday, November 14, at 11:00 AM

Polish Institute Library, Beit Psagot, 3 Rothschild Blvd., Tel Aviv (22nd floor)

Free admission – registration link