Janusz Tazbir (August 5, 1927 – May 3, 2016) was a Polish historian, specializing in the culture and religion of Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries. He was the Polish-side Chairman of German-Polish Textbook Commission from 1991 to 1997.

Career

Tazbir was a foremost specialist in Old Polish history, and author of over 1000 publications. One of his most famous publications is ''Państwo bez stosów'' (A country without stakes) published in 1967. He has also written works popularizing history, as well as on

history of literature The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment or education to the reader, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pie ...

. His works have been translated into foreign languages, including English and French. In 1950 he received an M.A. at the Humanities Department of the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. In 1954 he received his Ph.D. and six years later he

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

. He was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the annual

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

''Odrodzenie i reformacja w Polsce'' (The Renaissance and Reformation in Poland) since 1965, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

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 ...

Institute of History since 1966 (he was the director of the institute from 1983 to 1990). He was a full

since 1973 and a member of

(Polska Akademia Nauk) since 1989. He was also the leader of the Science Council of

Polski Słownik Biograficzny ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigner ...

(Polish Biographical Dictionary).

Career

Works