Thaddeus C. Radzilowski or Thaddeus C. Radzialowski or Tadeusz Radziłowski (4 February 1938 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

– 20 July 2018) was a

Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83% ...

historian, scholar, author, professor and co-founder of the

Piast Institute The Piast Institute is a national research and policy center for Polish and Polish-American affairs based in Hamtramck, Michigan, in the United States, an enclave located within the city of Detroit. The institute was founded in 2003 by Dr. Tha ...

, a national institute for

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and Polish-American affairs. Radzilowski's work focused on

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and other Central and Eastern European nations, including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

. He wrote extensively on the histories of these regions as well as the migration of peoples from Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

, with special emphasis on social history and historiography. He lectured widely in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and North America and published more than 100

monographs A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograp ...

, edited collections, journal articles, book chapters and scholarly papers. In 1999, Radzilowski received the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident a ...

for contributions to the dissemination of Polish culture in the world. In 2013, Radzilowski was awarded the Lech Walesa Media Award by former president of Poland Lech Wałęsa.

Early life and education

Radzilowski was born in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, to Hieronim and Genowefa (Ochałek) Radzilowski, and received his B.A. from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

(1959). He received M.A. degrees in 1960 and 1971, and a Ph.D. in 1979, from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

."Radzilowski, Thaddeus Casimer," in ''Who's Who in Polish America''. Ed. Bolesław Wierzbiański. New York: Bicentennial Publishing Corp., 1996, 379-380. His dissertation topic was "The Life and Works of N. P. Pavlov-Silvanskii (1869-1908)."''ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global'' database.

Scholarship

Radzilowski co-edited ''State and Autocracy in Imperial Russian and Soviet Historiography'' (a special issue of ''Laurentian University Review'', 1977), and was the author of ''Feudalism, Revolution, and the Meaning of Russian History: An Intellectual Biography of Nikolai Pavlovich Pavlov-Silvanskii'' (East European Monographs, 1994). He contributed articles and book reviews to many journals and newspapers, including the ''Arab American News'', ''Detroit News'', ''Journal of American Ethnic History'', ''Journal of the West'', ''Oral History Review'', ''Polish American Journal'', ''Polish American Studies'', ''Polish Review'', ''Przeglad Polonijny'', ''Shofar'', ''Slavic Review'', ''U.S. Catholic'', ''U.S. Catholic Historian'', and ''The World & I''. He also contributed chapters to various essay collections, including ''Polish Americans and their History: Community, Culture, and Politics'' (1996); ''Something of My Very Own to Say: American Women Writers of Polish Descent'' (1997); and ''Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future'' (2007).

Piast Institute

Thaddeus C. Radzilowski co-founded the Piast Institute with Virginia Skrzyniarz in 2003. The institute is the largest think tank in North America devoted to Polish and Polish-American issues, and is based in

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the United States 2020 Census, 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the ...

. Radzilowski has focused Piast as a research center, one of 59 U.S. Census Information Centers, and as a representative of Poland and Polish-Americans in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. With its internal staff and its worldwide network of

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s, Piast develops and disseminates information through the development of position papers, conferences, seminars, popular articles, publications, teaching materials, exhibits and academic studies. Piast Institute also aids in the management of the Dekaban Foundations, which sponsor university faculty exchanges in economics, engineering and agriculture between Polish universities and institutions in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. In addition to the oversight of these programs, Piast Institute also sponsors and organizes annual Dekaban Lectures that have featured, among other speakers, former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Pulitzer Prize winning author Alex Storozynski. Piast is also certified by the United States Department of Citizenship and Immigration as an official assistance site for immigration matters, and arranges social services for local immigrants of all ethnicities. In addition to helping immigrant families, Piast Institute works to mediate social and political conflicts among ethnic groups, including taking leadership in mediating a highly publicized national story covered by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', among others, regarding the Muslim community's airing of Calls to Prayer over loudspeakers in Detroit. In addition to working with America's Islamic community, Piast also works to reinforce cultural ties between the Polish-American community and those of

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Hispanic-Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify a ...

and

Jewish-Americans American Jews or Jewish Americans are Americans, American citizens who are Jewish, whether by Judaism, religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who desce ...

. Piast also takes a lead role in protecting Polish culture from

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

and ensuring healthy dialogue between groups of all cultures. In 2006, it promoted serious discussion of the book ''FEAR: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz'' by sociologist

Jan T. Gross Jan Tomasz Gross (born 1947) is a Polish-American sociologist and historian. He is the Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor of War and Society, emeritus, and Professor of History, emeritus, at Princeton University. Gross is the author o ...

, sponsoring an online international scholarly symposium
www.AnalysisofFEAR.org
on the highly debated charges made by the author. Piast was also a strong voice speaking against the common mischaracterization of

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

built on Polish soil as "Polish Death Camps," aiding in an effort that culminated with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

renaming the "

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

Concentration Camp" to the "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau."

Other involvements

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...

Commission on Ethnicity in American Life *

Kosciuszko Foundation The Kosciuszko Foundation is a charitable foundation based in New York City. It was created by Stephen Mizwa to fund programs that promote Polish-American intellectual and artistic exchange. History The Polish American Scholarship Committee w ...

* ''My Polish Story'' feature film (consultant, narrator) * National Polish-American Jewish-American Council (Co-Chairman) * Polish American Historical Association (Past President) *

Polish National Alliance The Polish National Alliance ( pol. ''Związek Narodowy Polski'', PNA) is the largest and one of the oldest Polish fraternal organizations in the United States. The original goal was to mobilize support among Polish Americans for the liberati ...

* Polish National Congress (Michigan Director) *

Polish Roman Catholic Union of America The Polish Roman Catholic Union of America ("PRCUA") (pol. ''Zjednoczenie Polskie Rzymsko-Katolickie w Ameryce'') is the oldest Polish American organization in the United States. Currently licensed to sell its products in 27 states, it is a frat ...

* Saint Mary's College, Orchard Lake (President Emeritus) *

The Polish Review ''The Polish Review'' is an English-language academic journal published quarterly in New York City by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. ''The Polish Review'' was established in 1956. Editors-in-chief The following persons hav ...

(Editorial Board) *

(Professor) * Upper Midwest Ethnic Studies Association (Past President) * National Polish Apostolate Committee

Early career

Prior to co-founding the Piast Institute, Radzilowski taught at University of Michigan - Dearborn,

Madonna University Madonna University is a private Roman Catholic university in Livonia, Michigan. It was founded as the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Junior College by the Felician Sisters in 1937. It became Madonna College in 1947 and Madonna Univers ...

Heidelberg College Heidelberg University is a private university in Tiffin, Ohio. Founded in 1850, it was known as Heidelberg College until 1889 and from 1926 to 2009. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. History Heidelberg University was founded b ...

, and

Southwest Minnesota State University Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) is a public university in Marshall, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. The university has an enrollment of approximately 8,700 students and employs 148 fa ...

where he served as chair of the Department of History, director of the Regional History Center, director of Rural Studies and associate vice president for academic affairs. He also served as the acting director of the Immigration Research Center of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, co-directed a special program on International Business at the Wirtschaft Universitet in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and chaired the International Conference on Migration at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Radzilowski has also served as an advisor and consultant to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the U.S.

Bureau of the Census The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

. He was the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

’ liaison to Ethnic and Community groups in the United States, a consultant for the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

and numerous other local and state government boards on ethnicity and pluralism. He has also written, produced, and consulted and advised on a number of radio and television productions, including award-winning films created in conjunction with organizations such as

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

and the

Arts & Entertainment A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational ent ...

channel. Radzilowski received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan.

References

Piast Institute Website
* ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' *

PR Newswire PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...

* ''Polish Weekly'' Newspaper
www.poland.us
* ''Macomb Daily'' Newspaper
Piast Institute International Symposium on ''FEAR'' by Jan T. Gross

References

External links

Piast Institute Website

Piast Institute International Symposium on ''FEAR'' by Jan T. Gross
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radzilowski, Thaddeus 1938 births 2018 deaths American historians American people of Polish descent Heidelberg University (Ohio) Madonna University faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Minnesota faculty Jagiellonian University Historians of Polish Americans University of Michigan alumni People from Detroit