Justyna Biernat, PhD
Theatre scholar, theatre instructor, and researcher of Polish and Jewish theatre during WW II. She is currently working on her post-doctoral thesis dedicated to the history of the ghetto in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.
A graduate of theatre studies and classical philology at the Jagiellonian University. Doctor of Humanities (Jagiellonian University) based on her dissertation: Dramaturgy of Lament. Mourning and Ancient Greek Tragedy in the Circle of Psychoanalysis. Dissertation defended with honours in 2017 (supervisor: Dr Katarzyna Fazan). She completed part of her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Oliver Taplin.
She runs the Spaces of Memory Foundation (Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci), which protects the multicultural heritage of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. For her activism, she received honorable mentions from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the KARTA Center Foundation.
Publications
Publications in international journals and monographs
Justyna Biernat, Karolina Czerska (50%), Theatre during the Second World War, w: A History of Polish Theatre, ed. K. Fazan, M. Kobialka, B. Lease, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2022, pp. 242-259.
Justyna Biernat, The Landscape of Węgajty Theatre, „Theatre Research International”, Cambridge University Press 2021, October, vol. 46 no. 3, pp. 303-321.
Justyna Biernat, Melancholic’s Smile. Profile of a Young Writer of Letters from the Ghetto in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, „Prism: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators” 2018 vol. 10, s. 5-11.
Justyna Biernat, Mythical Transformations. (A)Pollonia, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski towards Ancient Tradition, w: Ancient Myths in the Making of Culture, red. J. Czerwińska, M. Budzowska, Vienna-Oxford 2015.
Publications in Polish journals and monograhs
Justyna Biernat, Politeia, „Didaskalia. Gazeta Teatralna” 2024, nr 180, https://didaskalia.pl/pl/artykul/politeia
Justyna Biernat, Pomoc udzielana Żydom podczas okupacji hitlerowskiej w Tomaszowie Mazowieckim, „Studia Żydowskie. Almanach" 2023, t. 13, pp. 73-95.
Justyna Biernat, Grynszpanowie. The Grynszpans Family, w: Dzieci tomaszowskiego gettta. Children of the Tomaszów Mazowiecki Ghetto, ed. J. Biernat, B. Czapska, A. Gliksman, Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci, Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2023, pp. 117-127.
Justyna Biernat, Czarne sylwetki. Przewodnik po tomaszowskim getcie. Black Silhouettes. Guide to the Tomaszów Mazowiecki Ghetto, Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci, Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2020.
Wacław Sobaszek, Spiski życiowe. Dziennik węgajcki 1982-2020, red. Justyna Biernat, Joanna Kocemba-Żebrowska, Stowarzyszenie Węgajty, Węgajty 2020.
Justyna Biernat, O kulawym bogu Hefajstosie. W antycznej pracowni Jana Dormana, „Pamiętnik Teatralny” 2019 z. 3/4, s. 181-195.
Justyna Biernat, Sen o teatrze. Listy z tomaszowskiego getta, Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci, Tomaszów Mazowiecki 2018.
Justyna Biernat, Lament żałobny Elektry Sofoklesa, „Slavia Occidentalis. LITTERARIA” 2015 vol. 72/7, s. 117-135.
Justyna Biernat, Uśmiech melancholika. Sylwetka młodego twórcy listów z tomaszowskiego getta, „Przegląd Humanistyczny” 2014 nr 6(447), s. 89-100.
Justyna Biernat, Laboratorium doświadczeń. Dramaturgia Hanocha Levina (wstęp do antologii), w: Udręka życia i inne dramaty rodzinne, Kraków 2015.
Justyna Biernat, Ocean wytchnienia. Dramaturgia Hanocha Levina (wstęp do antologii), w: Wielka Nierządnica z Babilonu i inne dramaty mityczne, Kraków 2015.
Projects
Department of History and Theory of Theatre, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2026
Research project: Polish Nativity Scenes during World War II. Head of grant: Justyna Biernat
Department of History and Theory of Theatre, Polish Academy of Sciences, 2018-2023
Research project: “The Węgajty Theatre – 35 years of anthropological theatre and social-cultural exploration”
Head of grant: Dr Magdalena Hasiuk. Research team: Justyna Biernat, Joanna Królikowska, Katarzyna Kułakowska, Joanna Kocemba-Żebrowska
Grant of the National Science Centre in Poland (Sonata Bis Programme)
The Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw, 2018-2019
Research project: “Dorman. The Open Archive”
Head of grant: Dr Marzenna Wiśniewska. Research Team: Justyna Biernat, Magdalena Figzał-Janikowska, Hubert Michalak, Magdalena Rewerenda, Karol Suszczyński, Joanna Żygowska
Research financed by the Theatre Institute in Warsaw
The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford University, 2013
Research project: “The Funeral Lament in Ancient Greek Tragedies. Mournful monodies in the circle of Psychoanalysis”
Research conducted under the supervision of Prof. Oliver Taplin (Oxford University)
Head of grant: Justyna Biernat
Grant financed by the Ministry of Education and Science (Mobilność Plus Programme)
Inne
Awards
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, 2020 Award for individuals and organizations active in the field of preservation of the memory of the history of Polish Jews – honourable mention
KLIO Award, Fundacja Historia i Kultura and Porozumienie Wydawców Książki Historycznej, 2019 Editorial Award for the book Sen o teatrze. Listy z tomaszowskiego getta. Lutek Orenbach do Edith Blau. Biernat, J. (ed). Fundacja Pasaże Pamięci
KARTA Award Fundacja Ośrodka Kartka, 2019 Award for individuals active in the field of historical memory and civic community – finalist
Productions (theatre pedagogy)
Frieda, mother of swifts, 2026. https://pasazepamieci.pl/en/frieda-mother-of-swifts/
Halinka, 2025. https://pasazepamieci.pl/en/halinka-2/
The 1905 Strike, 2025. https://pasazepamieci.pl/en/the-1905-strike/