Historia Śląska od najdawniejszych czasów do roku 1400 Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności: historiograficzne studium przypadku
History of Silesia from the earliest times to 1400 by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences: A historiographical case study

Summary/Abstract: The article reconstructs the social, political, and intellectual conditions in which the first aca- demic monograph on the history of Silesia was written, Historia Śląska od najdawniejszych czasów do roku 1400 [History of Silesia from the Oldest Times to 1400] (Krakow, PAU, 1933). The author extensively uses the metaphor – the ‘historiographical field of tensions’ created by the previous research tradition, the active patronage of the state, and the overt and covert audience for whom the History of Silesia was written.The author lists three primary ‘fields of tension’. The first relates to the international situation: Polish authors were expected to write a work representing Polish expert opinion on the Silesian question. The second is related to disputes over the status of Silesia in the administrative system of the Polish state. The third pertains to attempts by Polish scholars to compete academically with German historians.Based on an analysis of archival materials, the author concludes that, despite the importance of all three ‘fields of tension’, the leading role was, in fact, played by the desire of Polish historians to produce a competitive text that would be highly regarded above all by their German colleagues.

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