I spent about two weeks in Ljubljana, working with colleagues at the Institute of Contemporary History (INZ) there on a new project. As part of my stay, I was obliged to give a lecture on my research. This presentation uses the perspectives of trust and the social meaning of money to understand the introduction of the Polish złoty in 1924. As the latest scholarship has shown, currency valuation is not a function of monetary factors (balance of trade, reserves, money supply),

One of the fascinating questions that irked me while I was working on my dissertation was how dictators justified their rule. In the case of Poland, but not just Poland, the authoritarians who took power after the 1926 coup d'etat were obsessed with legality, or at least the appearance of legality. You might say then that they were also obsessed with appearing legitimate. Despite the obviously criminal act of overthrowing the government, everything they did was according to t

The Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) – despite its clumsy name – is the most important professional organization in my field. I've been going to their conferences since 2021 and reading their journal, Slavic Review – since forever. Recently they asked me to give an interview about my life so far and about my work at POLIN Museum in Warsaw. I was a little uncertain about how much of my past I should share with them (and thus with anyone who r