Szymon Askenazy (December 24, 1865,

Zawichost Zawichost is a small town (ca. 1,800 inhabitants ) in Sandomierz County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland. It is located by the Vistula River in Lesser Poland, near Sandomierz. It is first mentioned in historical documents from around 1148. In ...

– June 22, 1935,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was a Jewish-Polish historian, educator, statesman and diplomat, founder of the Askenazy school. He was the first Polish representative at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. His work as a historian was influential in defining the creation and history of the Polish nation.

Biography

Persuaded by his father, Askenazy studied law at the Imperial University of Warsaw in the 1880s. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer; however, all the spare time he devoted to reading books in various languages. In April 1893, he went to

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

to study history. He was influenced by the professor of medieval and modern history Max Lehmann under whose supervision he wrote doctoral dissertation ''Die letzte Polnische Koenigswahl'' (1894). Commencing in 1902, he served as a professor at the University of Lwów till November 1919. In 1909 he was inducted into the

Polish Academy of Learning The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Po ...

(''Polska Akademia Umiejętności''). One of his main books "Gdańsk a Polska" was published in 1919 and translated into English (''Danzig & Poland'', 1921), French (''Dantzig et la Pologne'', 1919) and German (''Danzig und Polen'', 1919). Askenazy planned to join Warsaw University, however on his way there stood Bronisław Dembiński and Marceli Handelsman, who blocked his nomination to become a professor of this university. Famous Poles supported Askenazy: Stefan Żeromski,

Zofia Nałkowska Zofia Nałkowska (, 10 November 1884 – 17 December 1954) was a Polish prose writer, dramatist, and prolific essayist. She served as the executive member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature (1933–1939) during the interwar period. ...

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

, Leopold Staff, Andrzej Strug,

Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz (; also known under his literary pseudonym Eleuter; 20 February 1894 – 2 March 1980), was a Polish writer, poet, essayist, dramatist and translator.Bartłomiej Szleszyński, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. 2003 Culture.plJ ...

Antoni Słonimski Antoni Słonimski (15 November 1895 – 4 July 1976) was a Polish poet, artist, journalist, playwright and prose writer, president of the Union of Polish Writers in 1956–1959 during the Polish October, known for his devotion to social justic ...

Wacław Sieroszewski Wacław Kajetan Sieroszewski (24 August 1858 – 20 April 1945) was a Polish writer, Polish Socialist Party activist, and soldier in the World War I-era Polish Legions (decorated with the Virtuti Militari). For activities subversive of th ...

who signed an appeal (published in ''Robotnik'', 2 March 1920) for a place for Askenazy at Warsaw University, however in vain. After Poland regained independence, Askenazy was chosen to be the first Polish representative at the

(1920–23). His candidacy for this post was supported by

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

and nomination was signed by the Foreign Minister of Poland, Eustachy Sapieha in May 1920. He cooperated later with other Polish Foreign Ministers: Konstanty Skirmunt,

Gabriel Narutowicz Gabriel Józef Narutowicz (; 29 March 1865 – 16 December 1922) was a Polish people, Polish professor of hydroelectric engineering and politician who served as the first president of Poland from 11 December 1922 until Assassination of Gabriel Na ...

and Aleksander Skrzyński. In May 1923, Marian Seyda from, the

Popular National Union Związek Ludowo-Narodowy (ZLN; ) was a Polish political party aligned with the National Democracy political movement during the Second Polish Republic, gathering together right-wing politicians with conservative and nationalist opinions. Between ...

(a Polish political party of the

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National democratic state, a state formation conceived by the Soviet concept of national democracy * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National De ...

political camp) became the Foreign Minister of Poland after Lanckorona Pact agreement was introduced. Askenazy saw this as a sign to step down.

Jerzy Jan Lerski Jerzy Jan Lerski (''nom de guerre'': Jur; also known as George Jan Lerski; 1917-1992); was a Polish lawyer, soldier, historian, political scientist and politician. After World War II he emigrated to the United States, where he became a full prof ...

(1996) ''Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945'', p.19 He resigned from the post and in July 1923 came back to Poland. Askenazy never joined any political party. In his studies, he focused chiefly on Poland's political and economic history in the 18th and 19th centuries. He thus laid the foundations for the Lwów-Warsaw School of History (also known as the " Askenazy school"). He was the first historian to emphasize the Partitions period as crucially important to the creation of the modern Polish nation. Askenazy's idea of describing a nation's history through its social and economic development, as well as its international and diplomatic backdrop, remains influential in modern Polish historical studies. William J. Rose, an English translator of Askenazy's book " Danzig & Poland"'','' wrote in the obituary published in

The Slavonic and East European Review ''The Slavonic and East European Review'', the journal of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (University College London), is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Slavonic and East European Studies. It was estab ...

that with the death of Professor Askenazy "Polish learning lost one of its most distinguished ornaments".

Works

Ministeryum Wielhorskiego 1815-1816 : dodatek 1812-1813-1814
(1898) * Wczasy historyczn
Tom 1
(1902
Tom 2
(1904)
Sto lat zarządu w Królestwie Polskiem : 1800-1900
(1903)
Uniwersytet Warszawski
(1905) * Łukasińsk
Tom 1
(1908
Tom 2
(1908) * Dwa stulecia : XVIII i XIX : badania i przyczynk
Tom 1
(1901
Tom 2
(1910)
Przymierze polsko-pruskie
(1918)
Nauka uniwersytecka a kolejność studjów w uniwersyteckiej nauce prawa
(1921)
Książę Józef Poniatowski 1763-1813
(1922)
Gdańsk a Polska
(1923)
Uwagi
(1924)
Szkice i portrety
(1937)

Works in English

*
Dantzig & Poland
' (Published by George Allen & Unwin. London 1921. Translated by William J. Rose. The original Polish title: ''

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

a Polska'') * '' Thaddeus Kosciuszko, For the Centenary of His Death'' (London 1917) * ''Poland and Europe'' (Published by George Allen & Unwin. London 1916) * ''New

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

'' (First published in

Contemporary Review ''The Contemporary Review'' is a British biannual, formerly quarterly, magazine. It has an uncertain future as of 2013. History The magazine was established in 1866 by Alexander Strahan and a group of intellectuals intent on promoting their v ...

, June 1916; later by The Contemporary Review Company. London 1916) * ''Prince Joseph Poniatowski'' (London 1915)

Bibliography

*''Książę Józef Poniatowski 1763-1813'', (Lwów, 1905) *'' Rosja - Polska 1815-1830'', (Lwów, 1907) *''Łukasiński'', (Lwów, 1908) *''Napoleon a Polska'', (Warszawa, 1918–19) *''Przymierze polsko-pruskie'', (Warszawa, 1918) *''Gdańsk a Polska'', (Warszawa, 1919)

Biography

Works

Works in English

Bibliography

References

Further reading