2025 Aquila Polonica Article Prize Winner
Dr. Louisa M. McClintock, researcher at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Holocaust Justice Project, has won the 2025 Aquila Polonica Article Prize.
The biennial Aquila Polonica Article Prize is given to the author(s) of the best English-language article published during the previous two years on any aspect of Polish studies. Administered by the Polish Studies Association (“PSA”), which appoints the independent judges, the award carries a $500 honorarium donated by Aquila Polonica Publishing.
This year’s prize was awarded to Dr. McClintock at PSA’s 2025 annual meeting, which was held in conjunction with the Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, November 20–23, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
About the Winning Article:
“In the Shadow of the Crematoria: Investigating Mass Atrocities in Poland, 1944–1945,” The Journal of Modern History, Volume 96, Number 3 (September 2024), https://doi.org/10.1086/731362
Dr. McClintock’s article offers a nuanced and sophisticated argument about the challenging work done by the Main Commission to Investigate German War Crimes in Poland. This meticulously researched study, drawing on sources across multiple languages—some previously overlooked—considers the broader context of a European-wide network of state-sponsored war-crimes commissions. The author takes into account the complications of emergent ideological divides between East and West, the immediate political concerns of a new Polish communist regime-turned-state, and the categories of identity that were manipulated against the backdrop of both.
Dr.McClintock received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, her M.A. in Russian area studies from Harvard and M.A. in sociology from the University of Chicago. She has language skills in English, Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, and Italian. Dr. McClintock has held postdoctoral positions at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is currently employed as a researcher for USHMM’s Holocaust Justice Project.
Honorable Mention:
In addition this year, PSA awarded an honorable mention to Dr. habil. Jagoda Wierzejska, University of Warsaw, for her excellent article “Artistic Forms of Shaping Ukrainian National Identity by Leon Getz,” Nationalities Papers, Volume 53, Issue 3 (May 2025), https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2024.41
The article tells the story of Leon Getz (1896–1971), a 20th-century graphic artist, draftsman and painter raised in a Polish-Ukrainian family in Lviv who made the intentional decision to identify nationally with the Ukrainian minority, oppressed both in pre- and postwar Poland. Wierzejska’s article raises awareness of a lesser-known historical figure who made meaningful contributions to both Ukrainian and Polish culture. Using an array of archival sources and especially an epistolary record to excellent effect, Wierzejska’s article provides a deeply humane perspective on Getz’s life and work by skillfully interweaving questions of personal identity and his agonizing choices made against the backdrop of larger historical and political forces wrought by empire, wars and competing national aspirations
Dr. habil. Jagoda Wierzejska is an historian of contemporary literature and culture, and assistant professor in the Department of Literature of the 20th and 21st Centuries at the Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw. She received her doctorate in the discipline of literary studies in 2011 and a habilitation degree in 2024. She has won several fellowships and awards, and has an extensive record of publications. For more information go to https://uw.academia.edu/JagodaWierzejska and https://ilp.uw.edu.pl/en/pracownik/wierzejska-jagoda-2/
“It is our very great pleasure to congratulate Dr. McClintock on the superb quality of her award-winning article. We also want to congratulate our honorable mention, Jagoda Wierzejska,” said Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian. “And of course, we wish to thank this year’s prize committee, which consisted of Elisa-Maria Hiemer of the Free University of Berlin, Karolina May-Chu of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Barbara Milewski of Swarthmore College, for their hard work and thoughtful commentary.”
Dr. Jan Musekamp, co-president of PSA and Deputy Director of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, commented, “There were a large number of excellent articles submitted this year, and the prize committee reported that it was extremely difficult to make a choice. We are so fortunate to have such strong, thoughtful scholars in the field of Polish studies. Aquila Polonica has funded this award since 2011, and its generosity has helped to highlight the accomplishments of our membership.”
Click here to read the press release.
Click here for more info about past winners of the Aquila Polonica Article Prize.
