Jakub Sawicki

Jakub Sawicki is a Researcher and PhD candidate in East European History at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), affiliated with the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies and the German-Polish Doctoral Program "Poland and Germany in Modern Europe" at Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, Munich.

Born in 1980 in Lublin, Poland, Sawicki completed his studies in History, East European History and Political Science at Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg and Adam-Mickiewicz-University Poznań (2004-2011), where he wrote his Magister-Thesis on "The Warsaw Palace of Culture and Science in the People's Republic of Poland Public View." Following professional experience as a project manager, translator and interpreter (2011-2013), he began doctoral research at LMU in 2014 under Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel.

His research specializes in comparative East European history with particular focus on food cultures in post-war Central Europe. His doctoral project "Food Cultures in Modern Post-war Europe" conducts a comparative analysis of eating habits in the Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic and People's Republic of Poland during 1965-1975, examining how socio-economic structures, gender roles, and cross-border experiences shaped everyday food practices. This work bridges cultural history, social history, and comparative studies through meticulous examination of everyday life across the Iron Curtain.

Sawicki's publications reveal significant trends in the historical study of everyday practices in Cold War Europe. His research demonstrates how seemingly mundane aspects of daily life like food consumption provide critical insights into broader historical processes, avoiding simplistic East-West dichotomies to reveal nuanced patterns of development and adaptation across political systems. His methodological approach emphasizes contemporary perspectives during 1965-1975, examining the first post-war generation that came of age during the 1960s.

As a multilingual scholar fluent in Polish and German, Sawicki actively contributes to academic discourse through numerous translations of scholarly works on Polish politics, energy policy, and cultural studies, facilitating cross-border academic exchange between Poland and Germany. His work represents an important contribution to understanding the complex interplay between everyday practices and larger historical forces in 20th century Central Europe.