Bogusław Leśnodorski (27 May 1914 – 1 July 1985) was a Polish

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of 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 ...

and author of many books and articles.

Biography

He was born on 27 May 1914 in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, as the son of Maria née Owińska and Gustaw Leśnodorski. In 1932 he graduated from the III Jan Sobieski Gymnasium in Kraków, the school where his father had taught. He studied at the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

, graduating in 1936, where he began work in the Department of the History of the Polish System. In 1938 he completed his doctorate, with

Stanisław Kutrzeba Stanisław Marian Kutrzeba (1876–1946) was a Polish historian and politician who was Professor of the Jagiellonian University from 1908, and then until the end of his life the Chair of Studies in Polish law. He was chair of the Law Department ( ...

as his promoter. In November 1939 he was imprisoned as part of the German operation

Sonderaktion Krakau ''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...

. He suffered a stay in the Sachsenhausen and

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

German concentration camps. He was released in February 1940 and was involved in secret teaching at Jagiellonian University. In 1947 he received his habilitation on the basis of his academic achievements and his dissertation ''Dzieło Sejmu Czteroletniego''. From 1950 he taught at the Faculty of Law at the

as an associate professor, and from 1958 as a full professor. From 1965 to 1968 he was dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. Since 1973 he was a correspondent member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

. In 1966 he received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Toulouse The University of Toulouse (, ) is a community of universities and establishments ( ComUE) based in Toulouse, France. Originally it was established in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the ...

. In June 1968, he was a member of the Preparatory Committee for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

' birth. His main area of research was the

Polish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Gol ...

. Among other books, he published ''Polscy jakobini'', ''Rozmowy z przeszłością. Dziesięć wieków Polski.'' He died on 1 July 1985 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 ...

. He was buried at

Rakowicki Cemetery Rakowicki Cemetery (English: ; ) is a historic necropolis and a cultural heritage monument located on 26 Rakowicka Street in Kraków, Poland. It lies within the Administrative District No. 1 ''Stare Miasto'' meaning "Old Town" – distinct from ...

on 8 July 1985.

Personal life

He was married and had a daughter and a son. He was the grandfather of

Bogusław Leśnodorski Bogusław Leśnodorski (27 May 1914 – 1 July 1985) was a Polish historian, professor of the University of Warsaw and author of many books and articles. Biography He was born on 27 May 1914 in Kraków, as the son of Maria née Owińska and Gu ...

, a lawyer and the chairman of Legia Warsaw from 2012 to 2017.

References

External links

Article about Bogusław Leśnodorski
1914 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) {{Poland-historian-stub

Biography

Personal life

Further reading

References

External links