Tomasz Strzembosz (11 September 1930 – 16 October 2004) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

historian and writer who specialized in the

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 opposing ...

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 ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

at 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 ...

Institute of Political Studies, 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 ...

; and, from 1991, at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Strzembosz was a resident of Warsaw, Poland.

Postwar career

After

, Tomasz Strzembosz was persecuted by the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million ne ...

government's ''

Urząd Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

'' (Security Office). In the mid-1950s, Stalinist Poland he was prevented from obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and was repeatedly laid off from work. Strzembosz was one of the few Polish People's Republic historians who refused to write Soviet-inspired falsehoods about Poland's history. His main areas of research included the history of the

Polish Underground State, with special emphasis on German-occupied

; the Polish partisan movement in the ''

Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the History of Poland (1918–1939), interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural ...

macroregion A macroregion is a geopolitical subdivision that encompasses several traditionally or politically defined regions or countries. The meaning may vary, with the common denominator being cultural, economical, historical or social similarity within a ma ...

between 1939 and 1941, following the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

; and the 1944–46 anti-communist resistance in Poland. In the 1980s, Strzembosz was an activist in the anti-communist Solidarity movement. In 1989–93, he was president of the

Polish Scouting Association , type = organization , headquarters = ZHP Headquarters Warsaw , location = Warszawa, Konopnickiej 6 , country = Poland , f-date = 1 November 1918 , founder = Andrzej Małkowski, Olga Małkowska , members = 138,112 , chiefscouttitle = N ...

''(photo)''. Strzembosz authored a dozen books and over 100 scholarly papers. He also edited or reviewed over a dozen works by other authors. In 2002, he received Poland's Prize.

Family

Tomasz Strzembosz was one of a set of triplets, with Roman-Catholic activist Teresa and law-professor-judge Adam Strzembosz, who served as chief justice of Poland's Supreme Court. Tomasz married Maria (Maryla) Dawidowska, sister of anti-Nazi underground scouting hero

Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski codename: Alek, Glizda, Kopernicki, Koziorożec (3 November 1920, in Drohobycz – 30 March 1943, in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish scoutmaster ( podharcmistrz), Polish Scouting resistance activist and Second Lieutenant of ...

Bibliography

Books

*''Tumult warszawski 1525 r.'', PWN, Warszawa 1959 *''Odbijanie i uwalnianie więźniów w Warszawie 1939-1944'', PWN, Warsaw 1972 *''Ludność cywilna w powstaniu warszawskim 1944'', et al. Vol. 1, PIW, Warsaw 1974 (Academy of Sciences Award) *''Akcje zbrojne podziemnej Warszawy 1939-1945'', PIW, Warsaw 1978, reprinted: PWN 1983 *''Oddziały szturmowe konspiracyjnej Warszawy 1939-1945'', PWN, 1979, *''Szare Szeregi jako organizacja wychowawcza'', IWZZ, Warsaw 1984 *''Refleksje o Polsce i podziemiu 1939-1945'', Spotkania, Lublin 1986, reprinted 1990 *''Bohaterowie "Kamieni na szaniec" w świetle dokumentów'', PWN, Warsaw 1994 *''Saga o "Łupaszce" ppłk. Jerzym Dąbrowskim 1889-1941'', Rytm, Warsaw 1996 *''Rzeczpospolita podziemna (1939 - 1945)'', Krupski i Spółka, Warsaw 2000 *''W stronę zachodzącego słońca'', RYTM, Warsaw 2003 *''Antysowiecka partyzantka i konspiracja nad Biebrzą X 1939 - VI 1941'', 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strzembosz, Tomasz 1930 births 2004 deaths Writers from Warsaw 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish Scouts and Guides Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin faculty