A French historian and essayist born in 1948, Jean-Yves Potel is a specialist in Central Europe and contemporary Poland. With a habilitation in political science, he has taught at the universities of Paris VIII and Paris I, at Sciences Po, and at the University of Warsaw. He served as cultural attaché at the French embassy in Poland (2001–2005) and later as the Mémorial de la Shoah's correspondent in Poland (2006–2016). His books include La Fin de l'innocence. La Pologne face à son passé juif (The End of Innocence: Poland Confronts Its Jewish Past; Autrement, 2009) and D'une autre Europe. Dire, écrire et agir en Europe centrale (Another Europe: Speaking, Writing, and Acting in Central Europe; Circé, 2024).
