Gerard Labuda (; 28 December 1916 – 1 October 2010) 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 ...

whose main fields of interest were the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and the Western Slavs. He was born in Kashubia. He lived and died in Poznań, Poland.

Life

Labuda was born in Nowa Huta, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kartuzy, Poland (before 1918 Neuhütte/ Karthaus, West Prussia / Prussian Partition of Poland, Germany), into a Kashubian family. He was the son of Stanislaw Labuda and Anastazja Baranowska. From 1950 he was a professor at Poznań University; rector 1962–1965; from 1951 a member of the Polish Academy of Learning (''PAU''); president 1989–1994; from 1964 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 ...

(''PAN''); vice-president 1984–1989; from 1959 to 1961 director of the Western Institute (''Instytut Zachodni'') in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He was buried in Luzino - Kashubia. From 1958 onwards he edited the multi-volume '' Słownik Starożytności Słowiańskich'' (''Dictionary of Slavonic Antiquities'') and published historical sources. Author of more than 30 books and close to 2000 scholarly publications. Awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1996) and the highest Polish distinction Order of the White Eagle (2010; posthumously) . Award of the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation (USA, 1983), Herder Award (Austria, 1991). State of Poland awards (1949, 1951, 1970). Honorary Doctorates of Gdańsk University (1986), Nicolas Copernicus University (1993), Jagiellonian University (1995), Warsaw University (1997), Wrocław University (1999) and Szczecin University (2003).

Works

*''Studia nad początkami państwa polskiego (Studies of the early Polish statehood)'', Cracow 1946. *''Pierwsze państwo słowiańskie - państwo Samona (The first Slavonic state - Samon's state)'', Poznań 1949. *''Fragmenty dziejów Słowiańszczyzny Zachodniej'' (Fragments of the History of Western Slavdom), vols. 1–2, 1960–64. *''Polska granica zachodnia. Tysiąc lat dziejów politycznych'' (Poland's Western Border: a Thousand Years of Political History), 1971. *''Pierwsze państwo polskie (The first Polish state)'', Cracow 1989. *''O Kaszubach, ich nazwie i ziemi zamieszkania (Kashubian People, their name and land)'', Gdynia 1991. *''Kaszubi i ich dzieje'' (Kashubians and their history), 1996, *''Św. Stanisław Biskup krakowski, Patron Polski (Stanislas Bishop of Cracow, Patron Saint of Poland)'', Poznań 2000. *''Mieszko I'', Wrocław 2002. *''Słowiańszczyzna starożytna i wczesnośredniowieczna (Slavdom in antiquity and early middle ages)'', 2003. *''Historia Kaszubów w dziejach Pomorza (The history of Kashubians within history of Pomerania) t.1 Czasy średniowieczne (vol.1 Middle ages)'', Gdańsk 2006.

External links

Jak Kaszuba z Kaszubą. O straconych szansach, przywiązaniu do symboli oraz o narodzie kaszubskim z historykiem prof. Gerardem Labudą rozmawia Tomasz Żuroch-Piechowski, "Tygodnik Powszechny", 26.03.2007 r. Interview (in Polish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labuda, Gerard 1916 births 2010 deaths People from Kartuzy County People from West Prussia Kashubians 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Kashubian culture Members of the Polish Academy of Learning Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Herder Prize recipients Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work

Life

Works

See also

External links