Meeting with Patrycja Dolowy, author of “Back Before You Wake” at the KF Washington, DC

The Kosciuszko Foundation, in cooperation with the Generations After, is pleased to invite you to a meeting with Patrycja Dołowy, author of Back Before You Wake, translated into English by Anna Blasiak.

Back Before You Wake tells the deeply moving stories of Jewish mothers, children, and caregivers during the Holocaust — and the impossible choices they faced in their struggle to survive.

Among the stories are those of mothers who made heartbreaking decisions to save their children: a child hidden in a wooden crate with a silver spoon engraved with her name and date of birth; a mother who gave her son a cyanide pill; a girl thrown from a window during the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto who survived when her skirt caught on a lamppost; and children rescued again and again by caregivers who became, in many cases, their second mothers.

Based on interviews with some of the last surviving child survivors, Dołowy’s book offers a powerful perspective on the Holocaust through motherhood, childhood, survival, memory, identity, and the bonds between biological and adoptive families.

Before You Wake is available for purchase HERE

First published in Poland in 2019, Back Before You Wake has been praised for its profound and empathetic approach to the experiences of children who survived the Holocaust and for bringing a distinctive female perspective to these stories.

The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a partner for the American edition of the book.(English translation by Anna Blasiak through Holland House Books.)

About the Author

Patrycja Dołowy is an artist, writer and journalist. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1978, and lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. She is the author and co-author of several books (including Przecież ich nie zostawię / How Could I Leave Them On Their Own, collective work by 8 authors, 2018; Wrócę, gdy będziesz spała / Back Before You Wake, 2019, Skarby / Treasures, 2022), as well as essays and theatre plays.
Since 2011 she has conducted an on-going performance in public spaces and written a literary blog called “Views: Memory of the City / Memory of the Body”.

She lectures at the Artes Liberales department at the University of Warsaw and is the president of the Miszopuch Foundation in Warsaw.

Her most recent book Pęknięte lustro. Próba portretu Adama Czerniakowa / Broken Mirror. A attempt to Portray Adam Czerniaków is a biography of the head of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.

About the Translator

Anna Blasiak is a poet, translator, managing editor of the European Literature Network and Head of Literature at the Polish Cultural Institute in London. She has published two bilingual poetry and photography books with Lisa Kalloo, Kawiarnia przy St James’s Wrena w porze lunchu / Café by Wren’s St-James-in-the-Fields, Lunchtime and Deliverance /Rozpętanie; and Lili: Lili Stern-Pohlmann in conversation with Anna Blasiak.

Her translation of Maciej Hen’s According to Her was shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize in 2023, and her translation of Radosław Wiśniewski’s Psalm to Saint Sabina won the inaugural Trafika Europe’s Andrew Singer Prize for Verse. She is one of the editors of Babiniec Literacki.

Meet the author: Patrycja Dołowy
THURSDAY, October 29, 2026 | 6:30pm
The Kosciuszko Foundation DC Center
2025 O Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

The meeting is FREE and open to the public.  RSVP required to KFDC@thekf.org
Very limited number of books will be available for purchase (please bring cash).

Wine and refreshments will be served.

Join us for an evening of literature, memory, and conversation about the stories that must not be forgotten.

REVIEWS OF THE POLISH EDITION: Back Before You Wake

“… should serve as a point of departure for a very profound, empathetic reflection.”—Daria Czarnecka, histmag.org.

“… a real masterpiece. The author, using the form of conversations with people, shows the fates of children who had survived the Holocaust… filled with love, sadness, despair and hope.”—Karolina Charchowska, Historykon.

“…every single word in it is valuable, important.”—Agnieszka Caban-Pusz, papherowestrony.blogspot.com.

“… painful choices, dramatic partings, the miracle of survival, the tragedy of searching for one’s own identity. About mothers, children, caregivers.”—Przewodnik Katolicki, no 14

“The story of the Holocaust from the perspective of motherhood and the needs of small children which makes it easier to identify with the victims’ experiences. One needs a lot of courage to read Dołowy’s book.”—Marta Duch-Dyngosz, Znak, no. 779, 2020