The book by our research fellow Izabela Mrzygłód, “Uniwersytety w cieniu kryzysu. Nacjonalistyczna radykalizacja studentów Warszawy i Wiednia w okresie międzywojennym” has been nominated for the Marian Turski History Award of the Polish newspaper POLITYKA. The prize is awarded to academic debuts and popular scientific works published in 2025.

Izabela Mrzygłód, Uniwersytety w cieniu kryzysu. Nacjonalistyczna radykalizacja studentów Warszawy i Wiednia w okresie międzywojennym, Nicolaus Copernicus University Press, series: Monographs of the Foundation for Polish Science, Toruń 2025

“The author examines universities in Vienna—which after 1918 was demoted from the center of an empire to the capital of a small country—and in Warsaw, which rose from the status of a provincial capital to the capital of a state with imperial ambitions. Throughout the interwar period, both Austria and Poland were in a crisis that eased only briefly. Universities, and especially students—who were susceptible to both left-wing and far-right radicalism—served as lenses through which these effects were magnified. At both institutions analyzed, the nationalist right gained a dominant position, driven by a similar goal: the exclusion of Jews. Izabela Mrzygłód masterfully describes the process of student radicalization, its tools and methods, from slogans and the creation of heroes to brutal physical violence. This debut work is not only a mature scholarly achievement but also an important memento.”

Jerzy Kochanowski

Nominated by a jury consisting of:

Dr. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Prof. Jerzy Kochanowski, Prof. Dariusz Stola, Dr. Bożena Szaynok, Prof. Wiesław Władyka (chair), Dr. Marcin Zaremba.