The Polish Center for Holocaust Research was established at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2003. Two years later it began to publish the annual Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały. Our objective was to create a place where Polish scholars representing various disciplines could publish their texts and where we could also present texts penned by foreign authors as well as engage in public disputes and debates. At that time our journal was the only one of that type in Poland. We have published 16 issues varying in length.

Despite the passing of time and the changes we and the world around us have undergone, the key aspects remain unchanged. Although members of our editorial staff represent various research approaches and temperaments and they do not always agree with one another, they share their aims and values. We feel close to the approach which treats the Holocaust experience as a moral challenge and an obligation to the victims. We neither try to hide empathy nor avoid expressing emotions because we believe that when subjected to the intellectual rigor they aid the process of comprehension and cognition. We are aware of the special responsibility that rests on Holocaust scholars as well as that political factors pose a threat to carrying out scholarly research in this field. By the way, we are not the only ones concerned about the autonomy of the scholarly life.

We lay emphasis on the interdisciplinariness, for it is a complete misunderstanding to advocate the primate of sociology over history or vice versa in analyses of the occupation-period reality. Our periodical is addressed to not only the group of scholars who deal with the Holocaust, but also all people interested in this topic.

The basic elements of our periodical have remained unchanged. We publish articles and studies, primary sources, biographies of Polish and foreign historians important to the subject matter we deal with, essays, presentations and overviews of reference literature, and reviews. We approach texts penned by the young generation of scholars with a great deal of attention. Each volume has the main theme (for instance, Polish-Jewish relations, collaboration, the Holocaust in the provinces, historiography, historical sources, the religious subject matter). We do not shun away from pointing to the abuses in the scholarly life, education, and commemorations. Likewise, we sometimes become a object of fierce criticism. Every few years we publish a volume of Holocaust. Studies and Materials (in English), which contains a selection of texts from the original publication. Our objective is to make it easier for foreign readers to access Polish research results.

We publish both texts commissioned by our editorial staff and those sent in by the authors (after subjecting them to the standard review procedure). We also announce Calls for Articles  so as to encourage Polish and foreign Holocaust scholars to prepare articles on the topics of our interest. In 2020 we have launchef new website and the OJS-based editorial system. We have decided to make available all previous volumes of our annual free of charge in the Open Access formula. From now on our periodical is published in the printed version, as an e-book, and in the open access formula on our website. We are also going to provide more information about the topic of the volumes planned and our plans.

2020 we had the honor to present the broadened composition of the Scholarly Board. We believe that this step will have a positive influence on our work and also contribute to an even better functioning of our periodical in Poland and abroad.

Editors