Gerard Labuda ( csb, Gerard Labùda; 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 race; as well as the st ...

whose main fields of interest were the

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

and the

Western Slavs The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic langu ...

. He was born in

Kashubia pl, Kaszuby , native_name_lang = csb, de, csb , settlement_type = Historical region , anthem = Zemia Rodnô , image_map = Kashubians in Poland.png , image_flag ...

. He lived and died in Poznań, Poland.

Life

Labuda was born in Nowa Huta, Pomeranian Voivodeship,

Kartuzy Kartuzy () ( Kashubian ''Kartuzë'', ''Kartëzë'', or ''Kartuzé''; formerly german: Karthaus) is a town in northern Poland, located in the historic Eastern Pomerania ( Pomerelia) region. It is the capital of Kartuzy County in Pomeranian Voivode ...

, Poland (before 1918 Neuhütte/ Karthaus,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

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

; rector 1962–1965; from 1951 a member of the

Polish Academy of Learning The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scie ...

(''PAU''); president 1989–1994; from 1964 member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, 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 o ...

(''PAN''); vice-president 1984–1989; from 1959 to 1961 director of the

Western Institute The Western Institute in Poznań (Polish: ''Instytut Zachodni'', German ''West-Institut'', French: ''L'Institut Occidental'') is a scientific research society focusing on the Western provinces of Poland - Kresy Zachodnie (including Greater Polan ...

(''Instytut Zachodni'') in

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

and a member of the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...

. He was buried in

Luzino Luzino ( csb, Lëzëno; formerly german: Lusin, (1942-3): ''Freienau'', (1943-5): ''Lintzau'') is a village in Wejherowo County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina ...

Kashubia pl, Kaszuby , native_name_lang = csb, de, csb , settlement_type = Historical region , anthem = Zemia Rodnô , image_map = Kashubians in Poland.png , image_flag ...

. 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 Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

(1986), Nicolas Copernicus University (1993), Jagiellonian University (1995),

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

(1997),

Wrocław University Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, ro ...

(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 Members of the Polish Academy of Learning Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers People from West Prussia Kashubians Kashubian culture Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Herder Prize recipients Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin People from Poznań

Life

Works

See also

External links