Ania Hyman is a doctoral student in the Department of History at American University in Washington, DC, and the co-founder of the Koper Pomaga Foundation, about to defend her dissertation on the post-World War II reconstruction of Warsaw. Her work focuses on the inscription and/or erasure of certain carefully selected memories and versions of national and local history into the urban landscape. Some of her main research questions include: What is the role of architecture and urban planning in (de)constructing local and national narratives? What should be reconstructed and how to foster both community building and reconciliation? What is the significance and role of sites of memory (lieux de mémoire) in the healing of communities fractured by armed conflict? What should be the input of local inhabitants in the reconstruction of cities? Should reconstructions be chiefly local, or is there a place for the international community to step in? If so, to what extent? How should the affected communities reconcile the tension between preservation, reconstruction, and redevelopment? How should reconstruction be conducted to avoid re-traumatizing the population? Since the first days of the Russian invasion, Ms Hyman is actively engaged in supporting war refugees in Poland and delivering humanitarian aid to the people of eastern Ukraine. Passionate about history, architecture, reading, traveling, vinyl, cooking, and everything Warsaw. The mother of two dogs, the wife of one husband. She lives in New York.
