Irena Grudzińska-Gross (born 15 December 1946) is a Polish historian. After fleeing from her native Poland as a university student following the

1968 Polish political crisis A series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Polish United Workers' Party of the Polish People's Republic took place in Poland in March 1968. The crisis led to the suppression of student strikes by security forces ...

, she obtained her PhD at the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and became a professor at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, as well as a resident scholar at Remarque Institute and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. A 2018

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

in Intellectual and Cultural History, she has written historical books on

modern Europe The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early Euro ...

(particularly

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

and literature), including '' The Scar of Revolution'' (1991), '' Czeslaw Milosz and Joseph Brodsky: Fellowship of Poets'' (2009), and '' Golden Harvest'' (2011), the latter of which she co-wrote with her ex-husband

Jan T. Gross Jan Tomasz Gross (born 1947) is a Polish-American sociologist and historian. He is the Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor of War and Society emeritus and professor of history emeritus at Princeton University. Gross is the author of se ...

Biography

Irena Grudzińska was born on 15 December 1946 in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Kashubia Kashubia or Cassubia ( or ; ; or ) is an ethnocultural region in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region of northern Poland. It is inhabited by the Kashubian people, and many in the region have historically spoken the Kashubian langua ...

. She is the daughter of cardiologist and communist politician and the sister of banker . After entering the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

in 1964, she spent some time in the

Commandos A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as opp ...

dissident circle, and she was expelled from the in 1967. During this period she became associated with the so-called banana youth. After fleeing the country following the

, she continued her studies abroad at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

. She later moved to

, where she obtained her MA in 1975, MPhil in 1977, and PhD in 1982; her doctoral dissertation is titled ''Journey Through Bookland: The Travel Memoir in the Nineteenth Century''. After spending a year as a visiting lecturer at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, she joined

as an assistant professor in 1984, before being promoted to associate professor in 1992. In 1994, she moved to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and was a visiting scholar at the Remarque Institute from 1996 until 2003. In 1998, she started leading the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

's East-Central European Program, doing so until 2003. In 2003, she moved to

to become professor there and director of their Institute for Human Sciences, holding both positions until 2008. She was later an associate research scholar at

from 2008 until 2014, when she was promoted to research scholar. After serving as visiting professor from 2010 until 2012, she became a professor at the in 2013. In 2017, she retired from Princeton. As an academic, she specialises in

and literature in

. In 1981, she and

edited '' War Through Children's Eyes'', a collection of essays from the contemporary perspectives of children in the evacuation of Polish civilians from the USSR in World War II. In 1985, she published ''The Art of Solidarity'', based on the Yale University exhibit of the same name. Her first book, '' The Scar of Revolution'' (1991), discusses

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

and Marquis de Custine. In 2009, she published another book, '' Czeslaw Milosz and Joseph Brodsky: Fellowship of Poets'' discussing the relationship between

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

and

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

. She was editor of Peter Lang's ''Eastern European Culture, Politics and Societies'' series, and she also edited two of

Adam Michnik Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1989), dissident, Intellectual#Public intellectual, public intellectual, as well as co-founder and editor-in-chief of the P ...

's books, ''In Search of Lost Meaning'' (2011) and ''Trouble with History'' (2014). Grudzińska-Gross's book, '' Golden Harvest'' (2011), co-written with her ex-husband,

, is about Poles enriching themselves at the expense of Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The book was praised for tackling a difficult topic; however the extent of the phenomenon in question was disputed, with some critics arguing that Gross exaggerated what was otherwise a marginal phenomenon. In 1996, she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland () is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident abroad. As such, it is sometimes referred to as ...

, and in 2007 was promoted to Officer's Cross. In 2018, she was appointed a

in Intellectual and Cultural History. She was married to

Publications

*(ed. with

) '' War Through Children's Eyes'' (1981) *'' The Scar of Revolution'' (1991) *'' Czeslaw Milosz and Joseph Brodsky: Fellowship of Poets'' (2009) *'' Golden Harvest'' (2011, with

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grudzińska-Gross, Irena 1946 births Living people 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians American women historians Intellectual historians University of Warsaw alumni Sapienza University of Rome alumni Columbia University alumni Emory University faculty New York University faculty Boston University faculty Princeton University faculty People from Gdynia Historians of the Holocaust in Poland Officers of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland