Antoni Mączak (30 March 1928 in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

– 6 March 2003 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was a Polish historian specializing in the economic, political and social

history of Poland The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from Lechites, medieval tribes, Christianization of Poland, Christianization and Kingdom of Poland, monarchy; through Polish Golden Age, Poland's Golden Age, Polonization, expansionism and be ...

and

history of Europe The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early Euro ...

Biography

Antoni Maczak was born in

in 1928 in a family with scientific and pedagogical traditions. His father was an academic teacher in Lviv and a high school principal. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he fought in the

Gray Ranks Grey Ranks () was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association () during World War II. The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation in Warsaw until 18 ...

paramilitary Boy Scout units of the Polish resistance against the Nazis, and in the ranks of

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

. He took part in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of August–October 1944. Captured by the Nazis, he remained a prisoner until Germany surrendered in 1945. A student of Marian Małowist, in the first decades of his scientific activity he devoted himself to the study of economic history at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. His doctoral dissertation concerned the cloth industry in

Wielkopolska Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

in the 17th century, and his thesis concerned the peasant economy in Żuławy Malborskie. He was a younger friend of the "princes" of Polish history:

Aleksander Gieysztor Aleksander Gieysztor (17 July 1916 – 9 February 1999) was a Polish medievalist historian. Life Aleksander Gieysztor was born to a Polish family in Moscow, Russia, where his father worked as a railwayman. In 1921, the family relocated to Poland ...

Stefan Kieniewicz Stefan Kieniewicz (20 September 1907, in Dereszewicze – 2 May 1992, in Konstancin-Jeziorna, Konstancin) was a Polish historian and university professor, notable for his works on the 19th-century history of Poland. During his work at various uni ...

Tadeusz Manteuffel Tadeusz Manteuffel or Tadeusz Manteuffel-Szoege (1902–1970) was a Polish historian, specializing in the medieval history of Europe. Manteuffel was born in Rēzekne, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire (now Latvia). His brothers were Leon ...

. He advanced his scientific career with the University of Warsaw, although he also graduated from Cambridge University and lectured in the USA and Canada. From 1981 to 1987 he was director of the History Institute of the University of Warsaw and was appointed professor there. He is a Fellow of the

Collegium Invisibile Collegium Invisibile is an Learned society, academic society founded in 1995 in Warsaw, Poland, Warsaw that affiliates outstanding Polish students in the humanities and science with distinguished scholars in accordance with the idea of a libera ...

, a Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has lectured at many academic centres across the world, including at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Notre Dame, McGill University.

Works

Antoni Maczak has written much about economic history of Poland and on comparative history of Poland and Europe. He also wrote on the systems of authority in Europe, especially between the 15th and 18th centuries, and on the

clientelism Clientelism or client politics is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit ''quid-pro-quo''. It is closely related to patronage politics and vote buying. Clientelism involves an asymmetri ...

in history. His 1980s book ''Governing and governed'' ''(Rządzący i Rządzeni)'' was considered one of the most important historical texts in contemporary Poland, breaking with the past

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

look on history that until than dominated in

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

. In the English speaking world he is best known for his ''Travel in Early Modern Europe'' ''(Życie codzienne w podróżach po Europie XVI–XVII wieku)'' (by Antoni Maczak and Ursula Phillips).

Footnotes

References

Necrolog in 'Mówią Wieki
(in Polish)
Another Necrolog
(in Polish) 1928 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish resistance members of World War II Fellows of Collegium Invisibile Historians of Poland Polish United Workers' Party members University of Warsaw alumni Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Writers from Lviv Child soldiers in World War II {{Scout-bio-stub

Biography

Works

See also

Footnotes

References