The Western Institute 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 ...

(Polish: ''Instytut Zachodni'', German ''West-Institut'', French: ''L'Institut Occidental'') is a scientific research society focusing on the Western provinces of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

- Kresy Zachodnie (including

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest cit ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

), history, economy and politics of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, and the Polish-German relations in history and today. Established by professor

Zygmunt Wojciechowski Zygmunt Wojciechowski (27 April 1900 – 14 October 1955) was a Polish historian and nationalist politician. Born in 1900 in then-Austria, he obtained a doctorate from medieval history at Lviv University. In 1925 he moved to Poznań, where ...

in 1944 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 officiall ...

, since 1945 based in

. There were branches in Warsaw (1945–53),

Wrocław 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, r ...

(1948–49) and scientific posts in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

and

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

. Full name: ''Instytut Zachodni. Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy im. Zygmunta Wojciechowskiego w Poznaniu''

History

The Western Institute was founded in 1944 and became the flagship of the Polish Research of the West.

Mission

The mission of the Institute is to conduct research projects within fields of political science, sociology, history, economics and law-especially focusing on Polish-German issues as well as European politics. It has been founded by a group of Poznań University professor in 1944, and incorporated with Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992

Praise

Professor

Władysław Bartoszewski Władysław Bartoszewski (; 19 February 1922 – 24 April 2015) was a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer and historian. A former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, he was a World War II resistance fighter as part of th ...

, Polish survivor of

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

, and renown figure of Polish-Jewish and Polish-German reconciliation praised the work of the institute: *''I often used the archives of the Western Institute, when writing my works on the Nazi terror. They reliably researched Nazi atrocities. The series "Documenta Occupationis"-a collection of original documents concerning German policy in occupied Poland is a canon position. Many American, Israeli and German scholars use them to this day without reservations. They are part of scholarly literature and this is the greatest contribution of the Institute during its early years of existence''

Criticism

The work of the Institute carried out while Poland was a

communist country A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

has been criticised by German-American historian Richard Blanke as having anti-German biasRichard Blanke, ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 97, No. 2. Apr., 1992, pp. 580-582. Review of: Włodzimierz Jastrzębski,''Der Bromberger Blutsonntag: Legende und Wirklichkeit.'' and Andrzej Brożek, ''Niemcy zagraniczni w polityce kolonizacji pruskich prowincji wschodnich (1886-1918)'' Other criticism of work from this period have included allegations of propaganda and dullness while admitting that the Institute produced "some good works on political sciences and legal systems" German historian Gregor Thum has written that the premise of the research concept of the Western Institute in the first decades was the idea of an eternal German-Polish antagonism and thus the Institute's research, like its German counterpart, the

Ostforschung ''Ostforschung'' (; "research on the east") is a German term dating from the 18th century for the study of the areas to the east of the core German-speaking region. At its core, Ostforschung postulated that Germans and Germany were superior to Po ...

, was based on explicit political objectives, active support of the territorial claims of the state and the distribution of research results by popular science. After the fall of communism, the Institute has been one of the leading institutions in joint Polish-German scholarship and cooperation.

The directors

* 1945-1955 - prof.

* 1956-1958 - prof. Kazimierz Piwarski * 1959-1961 - prof. Gerard Labuda * 1961-1964 - prof. Michał Sczaniecki * 1964-1965 - prof. Zdzisław Kaczmarczyk * 1966-1973 - prof. Władysław Markiewicz * 1974-1978 - prof.

Lech Trzeciakowski Lech Trzeciakowski (24 December 1931 – 7 January 2017) was a Polish historian who served as director of the Western Institute (''Instytut Zachodni'') in Poznań from 1974 to 1978. Born in Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta i ...

* 1978-1990 - prof.

Antoni Czubiński Antoni Czubiński (22 November 1928 in Konin, Poland – 10 February 2003 in Poznań, Poland) was a Polish historian and director of the Western Institute (Instytut Zachodni) in Poznań from 1978 to 1990. He was the Polish-side Chairman of German ...

* 1990-2004 - prof. Anna Wolff-Powęska * since 2004 - prof. Andrzej Sakson

Main publications

* ''The Western Review'' (''Przegląd Zachodni'') * ''Polish Western Affairs'' * ''La Pologne et les Affaires Occidentales''

References

External links

*http://www.iz.poznan.pl/ Instytut Zachodni official site (in English and Polish) {{authority control Organisations based in Poznań Scientific societies based in Poland