Stefan Kieniewicz (20 September 1907, in Dereszewicze – 2 May 1992, in

Konstancin Konstancin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Góra Świętej Małgorzaty, within Łęczyca County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Łęczyca and north of the regional capital Łó ...

) was a Polish historian and university professor, notable for his works on the 19th-century

history of Poland The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy; through Poland's Golden Age, expansionism and becoming one of the largest European powers; to its collapse and partitions, two world wars, ...

. During his work at various universities he became the tutor of several generations of Polish historians and his views on the last two centuries of Poland's history remain influential in modern scholarly works.

Life

Stefan Kieniewicz was born on 20 September 1907 in his family's manor in the village of Dereszewicze in Polesie. In 1930 he graduated from the historical faculty of the

Adam Mickiewicz University Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

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 John ...

, where he studied under tutorship of, among others,

Marceli Handelsman Marceli Handelsman (1882–1945) was a Polish historian, a Warsaw University professor, medievalist, modern historian, and historical methodologist. Life Marceli Handelsman was born on 8 July 1882, in Warsaw, to a family of distant Jewish ances ...

and Adam Skałkowski, both being among the most notable historians of the epoch. In 1934 he passed his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

and started working as a historian at the Fiscal Archives in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. Among his pre-war works are a study on Polish society of

during the

Spring of Nations The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

(published in 1935) and a biography of Adam Sapieha (published in 1939). After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he remained in Warsaw, where he became one of the members of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Headquarters of

Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, 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) esta ...

. After the failure of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

of 1944 he was taken prisoner and sent to

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

, where he remained until the liberation. After the war he returned to Poland, where he took part in rebuilding the

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 ...

. After receiving

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1946 he became a deputy professor and since 1949 an extraordinary professor. In 1958 he became an ordinary professor. Between 1953 and 1968 he collaborated with the Historical Institute 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 of ...

(PAN), after which in 1970 he became a full member of the PAN. In 1976 he was also awarded with honorary membership of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. Awarded with

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

of the

Lublin University Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, Kieniewicz died on 2 May 1992 in

near

, and was buried at

Powązki Cemetery Powązki Cemetery (; pl, Cmentarz Powązkowski), also known as Stare Powązki ( en, Old Powązki), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of t ...

. His son, Jan Kieniewicz (born 1938), is an emeritus humanities professor, specialist in Iberian studies and former Polish ambassador to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

References

* ''Kto jest kim w Polsce. Informator biograficzny'', edycja 2, Warszawa 1989 *
Elżbieta Orman: ''Wnuk powstania styczniowego'' w: Polityka - nr 38 (2621)/2007, s. 105
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kieniewicz, Stefan 1907 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Dachau concentration camp survivors Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań alumni Home Army members Historians of Poland Archivists University of Warsaw faculty Burials at Powązki Cemetery Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)

Life

See also

References