OUR TEAM
Helise Lieberman
DIRECTOR
Aleksandra Makuch
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Holds a BA in linguistics from Jagiellonian University, Kraków and an MA in International Relations from the Tischner European University in Kraków. Between 2007-2013, she worked for the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków and coordinated a team of volunteers. From 2014-2015 Ms. Makuch interned at Taube Philanthropies in California. In the summer of 2015, she joined the staff of the Taube Center for Jewish Life and Learning.
Jakub Łysiak
GENERAL TOUR MANAGER
Jakub Łysiak, General Tour Manager, joined the Taube Jewish Heritage Tour staff in December 2015. He is an experienced tour guide and researcher, having established and managed his own firm, Polin Consulting, since 2007 (now incorporated into TJHT). Jakub studied at University of Warsaw in the Department of Jewish Studies, and at Tel Aviv University as a participant in the first session of the Polish-Israel Youth Exchange (PIYE), organized by POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Jakub served as PIYE’s Assistant Coordinator in 2007. He has worked at the Embassy of Israel in Poland and interned at the Embassy of Poland in Israel, and has worked with a number of Israeli governmental delegations, companies, individual clients, and families from around the world. Jakub was the first laureate in the Polish national contest for the History and Culture of Polish Jews, organized by the Shalom Foundation in 2000.
Paweł Łukaszewicz
SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER
Paweł Łukaszewicz, Senior Program Manager, Chief Publishing Editor, joined the Taube Center staff in June 2014. He has been overseeing publishing of our flagship publications: 1000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland: A Timeline; Field Guide to Jewish Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz, Czestochowa and Lublin.
Paweł studied at Law & Administration and Spatial Planning faculties of the University of Warsaw. His main interests are concentrated on his hometown Warsaw, and its past, present and future. Since 2007 he has been an active member of the NGO Forum Rozwoju Warszawy (Warsaw’s Development Forum), which gathers people interested in keeping the city’s history alive, sustaining its traditions, and fostering Warsaw’s current and future sustainable development. In addition to topics related to Warsaw and urban planning, Paweł is interested in Lviv (former Polish city of Lwów) and region of Eastern Galicia.
Aleksandra Sajdak
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Aleksandra (Ola) Sajdak, Taube Center Senior Program Manager was born in Warsaw. Ola interned at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Jewish Historical Institute. She served as a Taube Center intern in 2011 and joined the staff in 2012. Ola contributed to the Taube Center publications 1,000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland: A Timeline and The Field Guide to Jewish Warsaw and Kraków. Intrigued with all aspects of Jewish history and heritage in Poland, Ola is currently working on her doctoral thesis on Ringelblum Archive and documents from the Jewish Historical Institute’s archive. Additionally, Ola is a genealogist at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, at the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center. Aleksandra also works with March of the Living UK since 2018 as an educator.
Ola is an alumna of the Taube Center’s Mi Dor Le Dor program, graduated from Minyanim, a Jewish leadership program for Jews in Central and Eastern Europe. She was also a Kaplan Fellow at Yesod Cohort II. She is active in the Warsaw Jewish Community, a member of the JCC and the Ec Chaim Kehilla.
Marta Eichelberger –Jankowska
HEAD, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Marta Eichelberger-Jankowska is the “Mi Dor Le Dor Europe” Project Manager, former “Yerusha” Project Manager, a guide of Jewish Warsaw at the Taube Center Foundation , and an Educator the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a graduate of an MA program in Experiential Education and Jewish Cultural Arts at George Washington University and holds a BA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from University College London. She has extensive experience in Holocaust education. In the United States, she worked as an educator at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and served as a senior historian intern at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Kaja Siczek
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER
Kaja Siczek is a Senior Program Manager at the Taube Center and a recent graduate of Paideia –The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden. She has been active in the Warsaw Jewish Community for over 15 years including the JCC Warsaw since its opening in 2013. Kaja’s main area of interest is Jewish informal education; providing meaningful programming for youth and families with children. A former advisor for BBYO Hultaj, in 2020, BBYO International awarded her an “Advisor of the Year”. She enjoys biking, reading books, and cooking in her free time. Kaja is a domestic plants enthusiast, the unofficial „Queen of Challot” in Warsaw, and an ultimate “Mean Girls” fan.
Zofia Szabat
PROJECT MANAGER
Zofia Szabat, Program Manager, joined the Taube Center staff in March 2023. Born and raised in Warsaw. Zofia interned at the Hillel Warsaw. She studies Sociology at the University of Warsaw and participated in the Study Abroad program at the University of Haifa. Managed Polish edition of European Days of Jewish Culture 2023. She enjoys sailing and running in her free time.
Mikołaj Kaniewski
PROJECT MANAGER
Mikołaj Kaniewski, project manager, joined the Taube Centre staff as an intern in 2019. A trained interpreter, he has experience in administrative and editorial work. Between 2017 and 2019, Mikołaj was one of the coordinators of the Equality Parade, Warsaw’s main LGBTQ pride event, and was invited to participate in the first session of the parliamentary group for LGBT equality. Currently, he’s one of the madrichim at Camp ATID, Poland’s only Jewish summer camp organized by JCC Warsaw, and a happy dad of two rescue kittens.