His father, a Czech citizen of German-speaking Jewish descent, lost his editor's job and was forced to flee Czechoslovakia after the Communist takeover in 1948.
His 1951 book, Strange Land Behind Me, tells the story of his 11 years between being badly wounded fighting for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War in 1937, through adventures and imprisonment in the Balkans and India, to his escape from Prague.
During his time as director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, he also edited the Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland, and was secretary of Universities Ireland (the all-island university presidents' network) and the all-island Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS).
From 2016 to 2023 he was a board member of Places of Sanctuary Ireland, which works to welcome and integrate refugees, asylum-seekers and other vulnerable migrants.
Pollak is married to radio producer/presenter, voice coach, chair of Fishamble Theatre Company and Eurovision 1981 presenter Doireann Ní Bhriain.