Born 1982 in Tychy; 2004-2008 Studies: Eastern European History and Political Science, Philipps-University Marburg, and Justus-Liebig-University Gießen; 2008-2012: Assistant Researcher, Herder-Institute, Marburg, Research team member of the project “Kulturtechniken und ihre Medialisierung” (Techniques of Culture and Their Medial Transformation), sub-project B2: “Audiovisuelle Geschichtsschreibung. Fernsehnarrative in Ost- und Westeuropa” (Audiovisual Historiography. Televisual Narratives in Eastern and Western Europe); 2013: Ph.D., Justus-Liebig-University Gießen; 2013-2014: Scholarship holder, German-Czech and German-Slovak Commission on History, German Historical Institute Warsaw; 2015: Visiting Fellowship, German Historical Institute Warsaw; 2016-2017: Occupations in Private Sector; 2018-2020: Teacher for History and Civics at Freie Waldorfschule Magdeburg.

Since February 2020 researcher at the German Historical Institute Warsaw: initially (until April 2024) with a project entitled “‘No Sex Please, We are Catholic’. Reproduction and Partnership in the Area of Conflict between (De-)Secularisation and (De-)Privatisation of Religion in Ireland and Poland”, Research Area IV (Global Challenge and Social Change) and funded by the DFG. 

Subsequently (since May 2024) researcher in Research Area Mobility with a research project entitled “The Backbone of Heroes. Political Networks and Radicalisation in the Irish and Polish Independence Movements in Late Imperialism”.

Main Research Interests:

• European history of the 19th and 20th centuries with a special focus on East Central Europe
• Culture of remembrance and state memorial politics
• Gender history and the history of sexuality
• history of discourse and comparative history

Current research projekt: The Backbone of Heroes. Political Networks and Radicalisation in the Irish and Polish Independence Movements in Late Imperialism

Monographs

Die Darstellung der Judenvernichtung in Film, Fernsehen und politischer Publizistik der Volksrepublik Polen 1968–1989. Studien zur Ostmitteleuropaforschung 34. Marburg: Herder-Institut, 2015.

Edited volumes

Jan Musekamp, Michael Zok et al., eds., Journal of Modern European History 24, no. 1 (2026).

Jaśmina Korczak-Siedlecka and Michael Zok, eds., Sex Lives and Churches in Polish Territories Through the Ages: Forbidden Fruit. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00415-4.

Florian Greiner and Michael Zok, eds., The Circle of Life: Birth, Dying, and the Liminality of Life in Modern Times. Baden-Baden: Rombach, 2024.

Journal articles

Mobility, Migration and Networks in Historiographical Research: How Sources Restore Agency to ‘Ordinary People.’ In Journal of Modern European History 24, no. 1 (2026): 2–16. With Jan Musekamp.

Interdependenzen zwischen Sozialpolitik und Demografie im (post-)kommunistischen Polen: Ökonomische Verflechtungen, geschlechterspezifische Entwicklungen, traditionelle Lösungen. In Jahrbuch für historische Kommunismusforschung (2024): 249–261.

Gendered Social Policies in (Post-)Communist Countries: The Case of Poland. In Macedonian Journal of Social Policy 15, no. 18 (2022): 37–54.

(K)Ein ›Kompromiss‹? Der Konflikt um die Neuregulierung des Schwangerschaftsabbruchs in Polen in den 1980er/1990er Jahren. In Ariadne: Forum für Frauen- und Geschlechtergeschichte 77 (2021): 164–181.

“To Maintain the Biological Substance of the Polish Nation”: Reproductive Rights as an Area of Conflict in Poland. In The Hungarian Historical Review 10, no. 2 (2021): 357–381. https://doi.org/10.38145/2021.2.357.

Reproduktionsrechte als Konfliktzonen zwischen „Säkularisierung“ und „Tradition“ anhand der Beispiele Irland und Polen. In Feministische Studien 26, no. 1 (2021): 55–74.

Körperpolitik, (staatstragender) Katholizismus und (De-)Säkularisierung im 20. Jahrhundert: Auseinandersetzungen um Reproduktionsrechte in Irland und Polen. In Body Politics 7 (2019): 123–158. http://bodypolitics.de/de/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ch07-zok.pdf.

Wider die „angeborene und nationale Mission der Frau“? Gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen um Abtreibungen in Polen seit der Entstalinisierung. In Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 2 (2019): 249–278.

Säkularisierung im Intimbereich: Auseinandersetzungen um Sexualität und Reproduktionsrechte in Irland und Polen nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. In Střed/Centre: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies of Central Europe in 19th and 20th Centuries 1 (2018): 55–100.

Some Findings of the Recent Research in the History of Upper Silesia. In Acta Poloniae Historica 114 (2016): 327–342.

Chapters in edited volumes

„Keine Einführung von Abtreibungen durch die Hintertür …“ Reproduktionsrechte, die „katholischen“ Länder Irland und Polen, und die EG/EU, In J. Baudner et al., eds., Politik und Religion in Europa und der Europäischen Union, Politik und Religion, 257-279. Wiesbaden: Springer, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-50882-1_12#DOI

“We Should Admit That We Have Fewer True Catholics than Statistics Show”: Sexuality, (Post-)Communism, and the Catholic Church in Poland. In Jaśmina Korczak-Siedlecka and Michael Zok, eds., Sex Lives and Churches in Polish Territories Through the Ages: Forbidden Fruit, 253–292. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00415-4_11.

Sexuality, Reproductive Rights, and Partnership as Areas of Conflict in Postwar Poland. In Heidi Hein-Kircher, Elisa-Maria Hiemer, and Denisa Nešťáková, eds., Challenging Norms: Family Planning as a Reflection of Social Change in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe, 224–247. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2025.

Introduction: Liminality and the Circle of Life in Modern Societies. With Florian Greiner. In Florian Greiner and Michael Zok, eds., The Circle of Life: Birth, Dying, and Liminality in Modern Times, 1–18. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2024.

Neglecting Liminality? The Question of the Beginning of Life in Polish Post-war Discourses. In Florian Greiner and Michael Zok, eds., The Circle of Life: Birth, Dying, and Liminality in Modern Times, 99–122. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2024.