EN
The article presents Irena Nowakowska (1912-2006), a disciple of Stefan Czarnowski (1879-1937) - a member of Durkheim school, one of the founding-fathers of academic sociology in Poland. Nowakowska witnessed the beginning, development and political complications in the life of Warsaw sociology. She conducted important research on the Polish Holocaust survivors (1947-1950) and on the social identity of Polish scholars after the fall of Stalinism (1959). Her biography is more than the description of a single life - it serves as an illustration of the impact of history on the life of scholars and scientific research in Poland.