Historian Alina Skibinska receives Jan Karski and Pola Nirenska award

Researcher investigates experience of Polish Jews during World War II

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Polish historian Alina Skibinska received this year’s Jan Karski and Pola Nirenska Award.

The award ceremony took place Tuesday at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

The award, founded by Jan Karski, is given by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. The cash prize is about $5000.

“I feel extremely honored to receive this award because it is one of the most important awards for those who deal with Polish-Jewish issues and the Holocaust,” said Skibinska during the ceremony.

Skibinska is a researcher of the history of Polish Jews during the Nazi occupation. She is a Polish representative of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. She is also a member of Polish Center for Holocaust Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences.