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.