A gyulafehérvári hiteleshely levélkeresői (1556-1690)

Author(s): Emőke Gálfi / Language(s): Hungarian

After the secularization of the Catholic ecclesiastical institutions in 1556, a new era had begun in the history of the place of authentication of the Chapter of Transylvania, which resided in Alba Iulia. This period has been characterized by a specific and totally different evolution of this institution, which was no more under the control of the Church. For the purposes of conducting its charter issuing activity, lay letter searchers (requisitors) were appointed by the princes, who were also paying these office holders. The majority of the members of the Chapter have left the country together with the bishop Paul Bornemissza (who’s chair remained vacant for a long time), and those who remained in Alba Iulia were converted to Protestantism. They became the office holders of Queen Isabela and, after a while, of his son, prince Ioan Sigismund of Zápolya. The fact that some earlier members of the Chapter continued their work at the place of authentication proves that the state apparatus of the newly born Principality needed these intellectuals who had been previously educated by the Catholic Church. For almost 20 years, the place of authentication and its archives had been given very limited tasks. The institution didn’t dispose of a very important object used in the authentication process of the documents, namely the seal of the Chapter. This object has been probably taken by one of the canons, who left together with bishop Bornemissza. For this reason, the appointed office holders could only transcribe the documents kept in the archives of the Chapter. That’s why they were called requisitores, which means “letter searcher”. The reorganization of this institution took place in 1575, when the requisitors were granted all the previous tasks: a new seal was given to the place of authentication, which was similar to the earlier; the requisitors among transcribing the documents started to issue different charters and to fulfill external activities on the demand of the princes (entering into possessions, boundary inspections, etc.). Starting with 1556, the requisitors were appointed and paid by the princes and the character of the Chapter’s archive has changed as the time passed: not only the documents created by the place of authentication have been kept here, but also the Libri Regii, tax registers and legislative documents. As a result of these changes, the archive became the institution that preserved the most important documents of the Principality and at the same time the reputation of the office holders grew. So, it was natural that during the period of the Principality, the office holders of the place of authentication were chosen very carefully by the princes from the members of the Transylvanian intelligentsia, which had close ties both with the Unitarian Church and the Reformed Church. The first chapter describes the birth of the requisitorial office and the secularization of the Catholic ecclesiastical institutions. This chapter, based on the consulted documents, proves that the ecclesiastical estates (including the lands owned by the Chapter) were already given to Queen Isabela and his son in 1556, and they haven’t been returned to the Catholic Church, as one could suppose from the contradictory laws issued at the end of that year. The volume continues with the description of the period until 1575, when the appointed requisitors’ single task was to search and transcribe documents. The reorganization that took place in 1575, based on a detailed written instruction dated at the end of that year, made the charter issuing activity of the requisitors of this institution comparable with the activity of the Chapter before the secularization. These characteristics remained unchanged until the end of the period of Principality.The second chapter presents a detailed analysis of a group of intellectuals represented by the requisitors of the Chapter of Alba Iulia. The chapter starts with the presentation of this institution’s structure and also discusses both the way the requisitors were appointed by the princes, and their duties and privileges. This chapter emphasizes the fact that the institution needed well-qualified personnel, and the requisitors needed to be well-trained in matters of paleography, Latin and legal issues. Romanian or German language proficiency often constituted an important advantage. It seems to be proven that the majority of the office holders spoke one of these languages.Due to the fact that the prestige of the Chapters archive constantly grew, the requisitors have been entrusted with multiple new duties and responsibilities. In addition to these responsibilities, they were also granted some privileges.As regards the estates and other properties possessed by the requisitors, it became obvious that many of the office holders were given goods and possessions by the clients of the place of authentication, in return for their services. The charters granted property rights of movable assets and real estates, and these rights represented the evidence of ownership in trials. For the clients who were taking part in actions for the ownership of properties it was of great importance to find these documents in the Chapters archive and to obtain their transcripts. The services of the office holders were rewarded with different donations.It’s well-known that during the Middle Ages, the personnel of the places of authentication consisted of clergy members who studied at Western universities or at the chapter or monastic schools attached to the chapters or convents. After 1556, the place of authentication from Alba Iulia was no longer under the jurisdiction of the church, but the society, in which this institution functioned, still remained religious. During the first period after the secularization, the earlier members of the clergy were appointed as requisitors and they have worked there until the reorganization that took place in 1575. After that, the personnel consisted of lay intellectuals, many of them with theological training. We may say that the majority of them have received higher education and have studied at Western European universi ties. A good example is the carrier of the chronicler of the court Gáspár Bojti and the personal librarian of Gabriel Bethlen, Mihály Barsi.In addition to the above mentioned objectives, our purpose was to characterize the social class from which the requisitors originated, to describe their previous career and the time they served as a clerk at the archives. We concluded that before being appointed to this office, the clerks were often notaries of the princely chancellery and sometimes this office constituted a gift for different services rendered on behalf of the princes. It was also proven that every clerk became a noble at the end of his career as a result of his services rendered at the place of authentication on the request of the princes and other clients.The third, longest chapter presents the biographies of 37 requisitors. Among them there were important figures of the Transylvanian cultural history, such as the chronicler István Szamosközy and Gáspár Bojti.The volume presents the members of a group of intellectuals who worked in the probably most important charter-issuer institution during the period of Principality.To reveal the role and importance of these office holders, it is enough to have in mind the character of the Transylvanian society, based on the possession of estates. Nevertheless, the requisitors were members of an intellectual class that continued the heritage of the Medieval Era, they’ve had close ties with the Church, which supported their activity.

Az aradi káptalan jegyzőkönyvtöredéke (1504-1518)

Author(s): Emőke Gálfi / Language(s): Hungarian

Beginning with the end of the twelfth century, the most important cathedral and collegiate chapters had undertaken the task of compiling charters and diplomas concerning private legal transactions. During the middle ages the collegiate chapter from Arad was an important “place of authentication” in the southern part of the Hungarian kingdom. This institution was destroyed by the Turkish army in 1552.The archives of the chapter, which preserved the copies of diplomas issued usually in the form of volumes (protocolla), had been transported to Transylvania between 1556 and 1563 and were lodged in the archives of the cathedral chapter in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia). Here, it was the task of the requisitors (“letter searchers”) of the secularized chapter to guard the remained registres from Arad. János Laskay, a humanist requisitor from Gyulafehérvár, wrote a preface to one of these volumes in 1580. This text and a few fragments from the register are the only remains of these archives. The volume begins with an introductory study about the life and activity of János Laskay and the charter-issuing activity of the place of authentication from Arad. The introduction is followed by the transcribed latin preface written by Laskay, which focuses on the role of the places of authentication as archives. The volume continues with the Hungarian abstracts (regesta) of the charters preserved in the medieval register and a list of the canons from this period. The Hungarian regesta contains among the juridical transaction all the important historical data, all the names (denomination of places and persons) and other details which could be useful for farther historical research.The index includes every personal name and all the toponyms, but it is also a register of subjects.

Az erdélyi Csákyak

Author(s): Klára Papp / Language(s): Hungarian

The monograph gives an overview of the Transylvanian branch of the Csáky family from the mid-seventeenth century up to 1742, the extinction of the male line and examines the efforts of the female line, until the Csákys’ possibilities to preserve their name, rank and landed estates are traceable, that is, the middle of the nineteenth century. The first chapters of the volume discuss the great seventeenth-century predecessors of the Csáky, who moved from Transylvania to the Kingdom of Hungary and established, then strengthened their landed possessions and political authority. Especially, István Csáky, remembered as „Great” in family tradition, who was a General of the Principality of Transylvania and Captainin-Chief of Prince István Bocskai, as well as his sons, two talented politicians, István Csáky, Lord Chief Treasurer and László Csáky, Lord Chief Justice, both belonging to the circle of Lord Palatine Esterházy, who based the prestige of the Kingdom of Hungary branch.The family correspondence describes the relationship of Lord Chief Treasurer as contradictory with his children, of whom he had a good opinion of only the middle son of the same name, István, the elder son, Francis, and the younger, László turned against him. Concerning their political views and relations all the three young gentlemen went off the path set by their father, the two older ones maintained good relations with Miklós Zrínyi, the younger held together with the opponent of the father, György Rákóczi II.The Transylvanian branch marks the third son of István Csáky, Lord Chief Treasurer, László and his descendants, who returned to the Transylvanian lands, and wished to found their future upon farming and their estate revenues. One of the basic tasks of the research was to explore the history of the Transylvanian branch. Historical literature has so far much neglected the denominator László Csáky and his political and military role, furthermore, the fate of the descendants, their functions in Transylvanian political life, and the situation of the family holdings has almost never been seen in historical scholarship. László Csáky could not administer his Transylvanian estates for long since he lost a good part of his holdings because of his role in the Béldiconspiracy against Prince Apafi, and was only able to return from his Turkish captivity through Poland and Vienna during the great anti-Ottoman war of the end of the century, taking on a military task on the side of the Habsburgs. Contemporary diary entries show how deeply he was resented by the Transylvanians, which he was only able to change working hard for long years. István, the son of the Transylvanian László Csáky was appointed Főispán (sheriff) of County Kolozs in 1699, after the death of his father.Together with his younger brother, László he was striving to regain their Transylvanian holdings. It is now unanimous that in the War of Independence led by Francis II Rákóczi the sons of the Transylvanian László Csáky both László (who died in 1708) and István – who had formerly been a follower of Imre Thököly – supported Prince-Governor Rákóczi, from whom they hoped for and did in fact receive landed donations.Of the two Csáky brothers taking part in the War of Independence it was the elder, István who was to strengthen the influence and possessions of the family. The lord, who retained his power and authority even after the War of Independence, had really substantial properties.Beyond the lordships of Almás and Buza in County Doboka he obtained that of Szurdok, moreover, regarding the Bihar County holdings (Köröszszeg and Adorján) ha could come to an agreement with László Csáky of Tata from the Kingdom of Hungary branch.The fate of the two sons of the főispán of Kolozs, Zsigmond and Imre Csáky largely affected the eighteenth-century history of the family. While the son of the late seventeenth-century Lord Chief Justice, István Csáky, Cardinal Imre Csáky was addressed by Ödön Málnási as „Széchenyi of the 18th century”, his name-sake nephew, Imre of the Transylvanian branch was suffering in the captivity of the Gubernium.It is justified by the correspondence and litigation record that Zsigmond Csáky was to made all effort to gain the estates of his brother imprisoned by the Gubernium. The younger Csáky, keeping his household in Szurdok himself gave a handle to take an action against him since he did not administer his estates in a way that could be expected at the time but treated his villein tenants ill which created a general uproar throughout Transylvania. He was condemned by the Gubernium and had him taken into home custody in Kolozsvár as well as had his estates put under the control of Zsigmond Csáky. It was definitely the elder Csáky brother that was concerned to keep the whole of the holdings, of which he also wished to give his two daughters a share. However, in 1735 he unexpectedly died, therefore the Mikola-kindred was able to achieve to set Imre Csáky free.Imre, who died at the 1742 plague, was naturally to make contacts and come on to good terms with the Kingdom of Hungary branch against his own Transylvanian relatives pushing him to the background. He corresponded with Lord Chief Treasurer Zsigmond Csáky and György Csáky, and finally in his will bequeathed all his goods and chattels to them. After the extinction of the male line of the Transylvanian Csákys (1742) the members of the Hungarian branch entered into a long lawsuit – lasting up until the third decade of the nineteenth century – to regain the Transylvanian possessions, which resulted in a total victory of the Transylvanian kindred, and they managed to preserve their estate holdings for their own descendants only. In investigating the reasons for the quarrel and the process of the litigation it was not only the motives of the descendants of Lord Chief Justice István Csáky that were important but also the interest relations of the Transylvanian family members. For the female off springs wedded from aristocratic families, having a decisive role in eighteenth-century Transylvanian history – Bornemissza, Haller, Bethlen, Jósika – who gave them a most explicit backing so as to preserve the familiar holdings.After the death of Zsigmond Csáky it was in the first place his widow, Kata Haller and his elder daughter, Mrs. György Haller who managed family affairs. It seems justified that the widow favoured Borbála Csáky, holding the Gorbó lordship, thus the couple gained a considerable influence. After the death of Imre Csáky, upon the order of György Haller his grain and livestock were carried to Kaplony and Oláhfenes, his money and jewelry chests to their Kolozsvár house. In 1759 the Haller couple also obtained the mortgage rights of the Bihar Csáky estates. Lease contracts justify that they took up smaller-bigger loans from many persons at many different places in Transylvania, thus they were consciously striving to regain their Bihar possessions, the reason for which being their high productivity.The sources made it possible to examine the ways of farming efforts of the two sisters, Borbála and Kata to manage, gain and preserve estates. The Transylvanian Csákys successfully kept on maintaining their estates along their seventeenth-century patterns. István Csáky, Főispán of Kolozs took a primary part in regaining lands and reorganizing the estate management. Zsigmond Csáky and his wife had great results in the administration of the substantial Transylvanian and Bihar County lands. His elder daughter, Borbála relied in the first place on his husband’s help in estate management, but the younger one, Kata did it on her own. She endeavoured to have her fully powered commissioners and court judges under close control as well as demanded and did in this way receive regular reports from them. She made inquests upon any complaints into any possible abuse, and rightfully recovered the amounts missing in the accounts embezzled by her bailiffs.The basis for Kata Csáky’s independent management was the landed property inherited from his father, Zsigmond Csáky, which guaranteed to make a living on her own even when she was not provided for by his husband. The survived suit records, agreements and commissions however prove that beyond the estates of Szurdok, Almás and Buza the noblewoman did herself wish to increase her wealth. She got hold of Sajókeresztúr and took steps to redeem a part of Sárfalva, near Branyicska in County Hunyad owned by her grandmother. She bought a house in Kolozsvár in 1775, to which she had the neighbouring merchant house owned by Ábrahám Ábrahám attached, what is more, in the spring of 1780 did even purchase another town house on the northern side of the outer Magyar street. She used the mortgaged vineyards between the Bihar County Lüki and Kohány, near the Érmellék wine-district. The composition of the acquired possessions demonstrate that the countess either added to the ancestral lands raising its value in this way (for instance, taking in pledge and appending and smaller part of another estate and its tenant holders to it), or, bought vineyards particularly in good wine-growing regions producing quality wine, which could increase the profitability of the estates. The profits were thus occasionally much greater, especially in years to come, for the descendants than the amounts paid out for the holdings or put out on loan. Kata Csáky’s efforts to make her own living was strengthened by the fact that her second daughter, Rozália Bethlen was born, and her husband, after their first years of marriage tried to keep her under control even more strictly and rudely. In this situation it seems natural that the young noblewoman – relying on her own landed revenues – did all her best to be able to stand on her own legs, and grounding upon her relations secure good education and envisage favorable marriage for her daughter. The husband became also worn out by the 1773 visit of the Emperor in Szeben, and since Joseph did not form a good opinion of the mental capacities and achievement of Miklós Bethlen. It was to be expected that he would be put out of the way, which did occur in a few years.The couple stayed together mainly because of their common interests. The fate of their daughter, Rozália, the scheme, then the realization of her marriage, serving family concerns, with János Csáky of the Kingdom of Hungary branch brought forward a long-lasting community of interests. Rozália Bethlen had three children, and could rightfully hope that she would be able to preserve the Bethlen and Csáky wealth in Transylvania.The family correspondence makes it clear that both branches wished to make use of the marriage to improve their property positions. The Transylvanian branch, with the aid of the father of Rozália, Miklós Bethlen earned a főispán position in County Kolozs for János Csáky, who took up a – according to the Vienna Court disputable – role in suppressing the Horea-revolt. The deterioration of the marriage however put an end to the hopes of Countess Kata Csáky to bring the suit between the two branches into a standstill by way of her daughter’s marriage.Since Borbála’s son, János Haller died childless, his widow’s, Zsuzsanna Nemes’ inheritance, for the most part after her death, passed on to Kata Csáky’s daughters. The seigneurial and villein tenure farming of the lordships, the conflicts in the practice of service and the possibilities of peasant labour are discussed until the death of the younger daughter of Kata Csáky, Rozália Bethlen, or, the division of landed estates that followed it. It is important to see how women were able to take over the management of farming and administer lordships on their own. It is primarily the efforts of the resolute woman of reason, the grandmother, Kata Csáky and Rozália Csáky Mrs. Jósika following her path that can be traced upon, considering them as very peculiar women.Kata Csáky took responsibility for the running of her lordships and had sound economic programs, which went far beyond contemporary conceptions. She did not only make her stewards aware that she found it important to sow wheat in the seigneurial economy and have a most profoundly designed, purposeful production, providing a survey of wholesale marketing opportunities, but also had an active role in running the economy in a utilitarian way, taking into account productivity.The countess took great responsibility in farming, and did even receive new ideas. Her manor houses everywhere had appurtenant kitchen-gardens and orchards, where she had from time to time planted seeds bought from Vienna or Szeben, and employed several (Romanian, German, Hungarian) gardeners, who raised plants in hotbed. However, the progressivism of her economic methods are not only shown by the orange and lemon trees or the fishponds dug near to her manor houses, but also the rich, high quality wheat crops in Almás, but the so called Turkish wheat of Branyicska reserved for wholesale markets, and the number of cattle, sheep and pig recorded in the „Red Book” inventory for sale.After the 1826–1827 land division the Csáky holdings gradually became incorporated into the lordships of the two branches of the Jósika family, and only a small proportion, that of Nagyalmás remained in the hand of the squandering József Csáky, entangled in loan transactions.Of the descendants of Countess Csáky it was Rozália who unanimously became a landholder woman prepared for economic tasks and capable of running farming in a utilitarian way, who, after 1820 wished to initiate reasonable and progressive changes in her Búza estate. Differently from her brother, József Csáky, who traveled to Paris, Rozália got aware of the reforms that could be utilized for her estates, and what she could, she did put into practice. The social position of the countess was a favorable starting point regarding the establishment of the sugar manufacture and the several other initiatives. The wife of the Transylvanian governing body could discover the possibilities of enterprise so much the more than the majority of her contemporaries, if she had enough openness, common sense, initiative and resilience. It seems the concordance of chances and capabilities furthered the successes of the countess. Her letters also reveal the obstacles of the newly launched enterprise: the lack of credit possibilities, the use of loans traditionally available only from Jewish merchants, the setbacks of Transylvanian conditions like the aversion and incomprehension of the villeins of the lordships, the forces taking effect against cooperation, the difficulties of marketing etc.The efforts to regain, increase and run family estates elevate Borbála, but so much the more Kata Csáky, urging utilitarian economy next to the significant estate-managers of the eighteenth century (István Csáky, főispán of Kolozs, Zsigmond Csáky, Gubernium Councillor). The daughter of Rozália Bethlen, Rozália Csáky, brought up by her grandmother, Kata Csáky followed the traditions of the family. Her education, intelligence and ambitions for reform, mainly through the sugar manufacture ranks her amongst the greatest reformer figures of Transylvania. The noblewoman is rightfully seen as the initiator of social policy in Kolozsvár, since she organized an „Association for Noblewomen” that maintained a nursery school for the poor as well as established a hospital at her Gorbó estate. She had her grandmother’s breviaries, and bequeathed a significant botanical collection and library to her descendants. Despite the fact that the contemporaries did not judge Rozália Bethlen well, yet she left behind much less concrete results and personal achievements than her strict but very active and self-ironical mother, Kata Csáky, who was all her life working hard to regain the family holdings, or, her younger daughter, Rozália Csáky, who acknowledged the guiding role of masculine society but was always constantly aspiring for reform and at the same time wishing to change the role of women.The volume devotes a separate chapter to the villein farming of Transylvanian estates and the changes in villein services. Appendices of source excerpts, lists of measurements, sources and bibliography as well as an index are also provided at the end.

A kolozsmonostori konvent a fejedelemség korában

Author(s): Zsolt Bogdándi / Language(s): Hungarian

On the territory of the developing Transylvanian principality there were three ecclesiastical institutions which took part in the issuance of authentic charters: the Chapter of Transylvania residing in Gyulafehérvár, the Convent of Kolozsmonostor and the Chapter of Várad. Their medieval history has been already partially studied, but in neither of these cases the research did not cover their activity during the Transylvanian principality. Only in the case of Várad we could refer to the lack of sources because, after the capture of the fortress, the Chapter’s archives perished, but even so someone could attempt, on the basis of the issued charters to reconstruct its activity (we already have such an example for the Convent of Szekszárd). Although truncated, the archives of the other two loca credibilia are reserved in the collections of the National Archives of Hungary, so any other scientific investigations are possible. The research of their early modern activity and the publication of a major part of the protocols remains an urgent and possible task of the historians. The publication of these sources would largely extend our knowledge of Transylvanian law and history of institutions, and they would generate a basic collection of sources for further research.The main aim of this book is to present the characteristics of the charter-issuing activity accomplished by the early-modern Transylvanian loca credibilia by examining the case of the authentication place of the Convent of Kolozsmonostor, where the majority of the protocols have been preserved. We attempt to answer the following questions: whether the reorganized and secularized Convent, which has preserved its designation and has been moved together with the archives to Kolozsvár, has met the expectations of the society in terms of preservation of the documents and issuing of charters? How did it work and what was its role in the Transylvanian society?After the establishment of the Transylvanian state, the loca credibilia that entered under its jurisdiction, underwent a peculiar transformation. On the same grounds as similar institutions from Hungary, a specific Transylvanian institution, the office of the requisitors came to life to satisfy the needs of the society for authentic charters and to ensure the conservation of the archives. After twenty years of uncertainty, during which the secularized institution issued copies from the Convent’s archives under the seal of the city, the time for reorganization has arrived. The appointed requisitors had the right to complete all the activities made earlier by the places of authentication, but because there number was small, other institutions (envoys of the voivodes, counties) have gradually taken their place in the external authentication activity. In this process, the articles of Approbatae presumably constituted a turning point. From the second half of the 1650s, the external authentication activity (inspection of boundaries, seisin of estates to new owners, inquiry, etc.) was likely to disappear.At the same time, the disasters that occurred in 1658, and the subsequent long term instability, caused such a break in the activity of the Convent that we could consider it as the end of the institution’s early-modern history. Thereafter the charter-issuing activity was more and more casual, the place of authentication became mere depository of charters and produced copies of the documents in his custody.One could say that it was the moment which marked the end of the institution’s history of and the beginning of the archive’s history. In the age of principality the archives of the Convent together with the sacristia of the Chapter from Gyulafehérvár and probable Várad as a result of the measures taken by the princes and the Orders have played the role of the state’s “National Archives”. Finally, in order to reflect on the activity of the Convent from Kolozsmonostor during the age of principality, we should compare László Papp’s point of view, based on the previous literature and law-articles, and the impedimentums listed in 1655 by one of the requisitors, István Pálfi with the “products” of the Convent’s activity: the registers (protocolla) and the charters. Both the quantity and the quality of the preserved archive materials prove that the reorganized Convent remained for a long time one of the major charter-issuing institutions of Transylvania.

Rok 1945. Między wojną a podległością

Author(s): Marta Markowska / Language(s): Polish

The year 1945 brought the end of war and finally settled Poland’s post-war shape. The voices of witnesses of those events: politicians, soldiers, but also ordinary people help us build the portrait of that dramatic time which affected Poland’s fate for the subsequent decades. It is a chronological compilation of source testimonies, which makes up a rich story of the turn of war and peace, slow development of the post-war reality, collision of hope for a normal life with the new order which was to mean the loss of independence for another half a century.

Polski wir I wojny

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

A collective diary from the years 1914-1918, a compilation of hundreds of individual testimonies selected from the records of that time. The book makes it possible to look with the eye of ancestors at the process of Poland changing from a dream into a state.

Wrota piekieł. Ravensbrücke

Author(s): Anja Lundholm / Language(s): Polish

The Ravensbrück concentration camp at its final stage. The narration oscillates between a sense of hopelessness and the will of survival, capitulation and rebellion, creating a moving record of extreme experience. Nomination for the Nobel Prize in literature in 1974.Anja Lundholm (1918–2007), daughter of a German Jewish mother and a fervent Nazi father. In the 1930s, her father joined the SS and her mother committed suicide after the pogroms of the “Night of Broken Glass.” Lundholm studied in Berlin. In 1941, she escaped from Berlin to Rome, where she established contacts with the resistance movement. Denounced by her own father she was arrested, passed through several prisons, and was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in March 1944. That experience affected her in both physical and psychological terms for the rest of her life.

Moje zeznania

Author(s): Anatolij Marczenko / Language(s): Polish

A moving testimony of cruelty, anarchy, and overt violence in Soviet political forced-labour camps and prisons in the post-Stalinist period. Anatoly Marchenko, an ordinary worker, was only 20 when he was sent in 1958 to a Soviet prison for taking part in a scuffle in which he did not even participate. He entered the circle of political prisoners, and Mordovia labour camps became his “university”. He got to know true history there, learned the fundamentals of economics, acquired the knowledge of politics, and became a determined opponent of the inhumane system and a true humanist at the same time. He published his experiences from that time in a book which made him one of the best known Russian dissidents. Convicted several times he died in December 1986 after a hunger strike which lasted almost four months. Five days after his funeral Mikhail Gorbaczev called exiled Andrei Sakharov, which initiated the process of freeing political prisoners in the USSR.

Dzieci rewolucji

Author(s): Wolfgang Leonhard / Language(s): Polish

Reminiscences of a German maturing in the USSR who was brought up by the Soviet system to propagate the communist revolution in his own country. After the war, Wolfgang Leonhard was actively introducing communism in the defeated Germany. Ideological dilemmas make him break off with Stalinism in 1949. The Children of the Revolution, published for the first time in 1955, is an illustration of the perekovka (re-forging) of souls on the living material, and evidence of political blindness.

Jugoslovensko ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana

Author(s): Bojan B. Dimitrijević / Language(s): Serbian

Tell Atrib 1985-1995 IV. Faience Objects. PAM Monograph Series 5

Author(s): Fabian Welc / Language(s): English

Egyptian faience of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods has not enjoyed the same degree of research as the earlier material. This volume, which presents an analysis of faience object from Polish-Egyptian excavations at Tell Atrib, ancient Athribis, will help to remedy this problem.Excavations in Tell Atrib revealed traces of local production of faience objects. They include vessels, figurines, amulets and ushebti recovered from three major strata dated to different phases of the Ptolemaic period. Their provenance from securely dated contexts allowed for tracing typological changes occurring over time, which is of particular importance for studying the history of local faience production.These observations give grounds for analyzing the sources of influence and inspiration of local artisans. Distribution of faience finds at the site gives certain clues as to the role of these objects in everyday and religious life of the inhabitants of the ancient city.PartnerzyKsięgarnia Uniwersytecka LIBERAzymuttel. 703 700 112

Genealogy of Contemporaneity. A History of Ideas in Poland, 1815–1939

Author(s): / Language(s): English

The book concerns history of political ideas which formed the landscape of Poland under occupation and then, its struggles with the difficulties of building its own statehood. Textbook is addressed to the academic reader with an interest in transitions of political ideas in Poland and a Central Europe in general. The intention of the editors of the book is to provide a clear guide to the complexities of the multiplicity of ideological positions and proposals arising from the Polish lands in the years 1815–1939.

Województwo mińskie i Jeleńscy w życiu publicznym Rzeczypospolitej w latach 1764–1795 w świetle ich korespondencji

Author(s): Dariusz Rolnik / Language(s): Polish

The Jeleński family of the Korczak coat of arms had been a well-known family in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since the second half of the 16th century. During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, however, the family rose to prominence in the Lithuania, holding the Senate seat of the Castellan of Nowogród, which was passed down to the members of the family. It was, in fact, thanks to Stanisław August that Rafał, as well as his brother Gedeon, were raised to the senatorial seat as the first among the Jeleński family. The family was also, or maybe first and foremost, extremely influential in the Minsk Voivodeship, particularly in the Mazyr County, where the various members of the family as well as their relatives and kinsmen held almost absolute power in the local administration. Nonetheless, little has been written about this family’s influence in this area and in the Commonwealth in general — except for biographical notes in the Polish Biographical Dictionary and mentions in books of heraldry. The only mentions included singular instances regarding historic events in the Commonwealth. It should, however, come as no surprise, since the representatives of the family never amounted to anything more than — however influential — supernumeraries on the political stage of the Commonwealth. Nonetheless, due to their mutual interests with the Radziwiłł and Sapieha families, as well as their close ties with many old Lithuanian noble families, such as the Medeksza, Obuchowicz, Kościałkowski, Lenkiewicz, Rdłutowski, Romer, or Wolbek families, in addition to remaining in Stanisław August’s sphere of influence, the Jeleński family aspired to count among the elite of the Lithuanian province, one whose opinion should be taken into consideration.The study is founded upon the analysis of the Jeleński Family Archive, stored at the NationalHistorical Archives of Belarus (NGAB) in Minsk. Thanks to that archive, it has been possible to reconstruct the genealogy of the family as well as indicate its role and influence in the public life of the Minsk Voivodeship during the reign of Stanisław August. The monograph discusses the political engagement of the two most important representatives of the family: Gedeon and Konstanty Ludwik, counted among the elite of their times. They were not only skilled politicians, but also initiators of cultural and scientific development in Lithuania. Both of them betrayed deep interest in the issues of governance and broadly understood political thought — a topic which has been discussed in the first part of this monograph.The monograph consists of five chapters. The first chapter, entitled The Jeleński Family, ItsGenealogy, Multiplication, Connections — A Biographical Perspective, introduces the Jeleński family and provides a biographical perspective. According to all sources, the Jeleński family is descended from the Tatars, and Teodor, the progenitor of the family, came from Lithuania to Poland in 1549 as a knight in the service of Zygmunt August, fighting to defend the Commonwealth, which is probable but impossible to verify. Three important figures were supposed to be descended from Teodor: Paweł, who held the office of the Lithuanian Field Guard, as well as Maciej and Adam, commanders of infantry regiments who made names for themselves in the Livonia, Moscow and Prussia war expeditions. From these three descend the next generations of the Jeleński family, who founded the Jeleński Family Archive and who settled in Dunajczyce and Tucha, which can be regarded as the family nests of the Jeleński family (both were bestowed upon them by Zygmunt III). Moreover, the chapter touches upon the career paths of the selected members of the family and delineates the network of family relationships in the form of longer biographical notes constructed on the basis of the primary sources available in the archive which have been cross-referenced with other studies, books of heraldry and primary sources.The research findings are presented in a graphic form in chapter two, which includes thegenealogy of the Jeleński family. Chapter three: Between the Familia and the King’s Party; Between the Radziwiłł and the Sapieha Families and subsequent Between Politics and the Household serve as an introductory section while at the same time discussing the two most important factors which influenced the family’s position in the public life. The latter issue constitutes the subject of the fifth chapter: The Public Life of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — From the Convocation Sejm (1764) to the Fall of the Polish Statehood (1795). During that time, many members of the Jeleński family remained active in the political sphere, while Gedeon, the most ambitious of the politicians in his family, became the most influential. The members of the family were chosen to be deputies and representatives for more powerful parties; nonetheless, they held no autonomous political power. In 1772, they aligned themselves with Stanisław August. During election sejmiks which elected county and voivodeship officials, the Jeleński family always invoked the good of the Commonwealth, under the motto “for the good of the motherland”. The common good, however, was often perceived by the Jeleński family from the perspective of the prosperity of their own province — both on a smaller scale, i.e. the Mazyr County, and on a grander scale, i.e. the Minsk Voivodeship and the entire Lithuania. That is why their efforts were mostly concentrated on bringing prosperity to the Mazyr County first, followed by the Minsk and Nowogród Voivodeships, and finally the Grand Duchy of Lithuania itself. Sometimes, however, the good of their province and the good of the entire Commonwealthdid not completely align, complicated by the private affairs of the Jeleński family, which bothremained at the forefront of their minds and influenced their subservient political nature. Moreover, all members of the Jeleński family — and Gedeon most of all — were uniquely talented with regard to securing their “rewards.”

Za naszą i waszą wolność. Bitwa o Monte Cassino z perspektywy polskiej i włoskiej. Per la nostra e la vostra libertà. La battaglia di Montecassino vista da una prospettiva polacca e italiana

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish,Italian

The collection presents an overview of research into the essence of the Battle of Monte Cassino and the results of the victory of General Anders' soldiers from the point of view of Polish and Italian scientists. Having reached for previously not explored collections and archives, the authors present various aspects of the history of the Polish II Corps in Italy and make an attempt to shed light onto the less-known, complicated fate of this formation, which is so special in the history of Polish arms, as well as of individual soldiers fighting in it.

Wydarzenia – od traumy do euforii

Author(s): / Language(s): Russian,Polish,Ukrainian,Belarusian

This multi-author monograph looks at the 20th century from the perspective of its role in self-identification of individuals and/or communities as well as – in the latter case – of the place occupied by events of the 20th century in the structure of concepts that are key for the self-identification of Slavs. At the heart of each of the presented papers is the premise that the past, seen as a chain of events, is one of the factors determining identity and defining the system of national values which find their reflection in culture. Drawing on the tools of literary studies, semiotics, historiography and cultural studies, the authors undertake to put 20th century events on the map of contemporary European memory. They examine both the events that left a dreadful mark on contemporary history, causing a national (or global) trauma (like the February Revolution or outbreak of World War II) and those seen as positive (like the end of World War II, fall of the Berlin Wall or John Paul II’s pilgrimages) and evoking the feeling of pride. At the centre of attention are not only events defining the image of Europe in terms of political geography. Also clearly present is the mental perspective, which fosters recognizing the sources of national fascinations and national traumas, helps understand the mechanisms of myth-making, and points to the tools for reading myths that are constituted by, often seemingly hidden, references to the past.

Od wrogości do przyjaźni. Habsburgowie austriaccy wobec Polski w latach 1587–1592

Author(s): Aleksandra Barwicka-Makula / Language(s): Polish

This work presents Habsburg-Polish relations during 1587–1592 in the most exhaustive and comprehensive possible way. Its new approach toward diplomatic relations of the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs with Sisigmund III Vasa and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is founded on the previously unused sources and a deeper analysis of archival materials, mainly from Vienna’s Haus-, Hof-, and Staatsarchiv, which enabled a reconsideration of a broad range of prevailing assessments and views in historiography.These issues are discussed in four chapters. Chapter one serves as an introduction to the topic. It concerns the main directions and goals of the House of Austria’s foreign policy in the second half of the 16th century and shows the organizational structure and methods of operation of the Habsburg diplomatic service. It also presents Austrian attempts to gain the Polish crown from the 1560s to 1586.Chapter two begins with a characterization of Rudolph II’s reign. Historiographic assessments of the emperor’s engagement in the affairs of countries under Habsburg rule (the Austrian branch) and his activity in the field of diplomacy were recounted. Next, the attempts of the four archdukes: Ferdinand, Ernest, Matthias, and Maximilian to gain the Commonwealth’s throne were presented, as well as their mutual rivalry during the interregnum following Stephen Báthory’s death. This part also highlighted the changing perception of the Swedish prince by the Prague court and its impact on Habsburg diplomacy. Moreover, the course of Archduke Maximilian’s military expedition for the Polish crown, as well as the causes of the election fiasco and the defeat at Byczyna were pointed out.Chapter three presents diplomatic measures undertaken by Rudolph II to free his brother Maximilian and the House of Austria’s stance on the archduke’s imprisonment along with their preferred resolution to the conflict with the Commonwealth. It also raises the issue of Sigismund III’s lack of political independence during the first years of his reign. In this part, a different approach from the one established in source literature to both papal mediation and Cardinal-Legate Ippolit Aldobarndini’s contribution to the peace process was shown. Based on the previously unused record of the Bytom–Będzin parley, which is part of the number 982 manuscript from the Kórnik Library collection, and the correspondence of Austrian commissaries with Rudolph II, barely known to Polish historians, an exact course of the peace talks has been reconstructed.The chapter is concluded with a discussion of the terms of agreement and reaction of the two parties to the news of a peace settlement, analyzed through the prism of ratification procedures.The final part of the book discusses the impact that Maximilian’s refusal to pledge the Treaty of Będzin and Bytom had on Habsburg-Polish relations and personal contacts of Sigismund III with the House of Austria. Moreover, it confronts young Vasa’s offer regarding the succession to the Commonwealth throne made to Archduke Ernst with the plans of the Emperor’s court to gain the Polish crown. The king’s negotiations with the Habsburgs during 1589–1592 are viewed as his attempt to step out of the shade, free himself from Zamoyski’s counsel, and take the initiative and the helm of the Polish-Lithuanian state’s foreign policy. The author sees Sigismund III Vasa’s pro-Austrian stance as a tool to build his own political camp based on the former supporters of the Habsburg candidacy. Chapter four ends with a description of actions of both parties leading to the Polish king’s marriage to Archduchess Anna of Austria, daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria of Bavaria.This book should inspire further research on Habsburg-Polish relations in the modern era and discussions about the place and role of the Commonwealth on the political map of Europe at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Polscy uchodźcy na Bliskim Wschodzie w latach II wojny światowej. Ośrodki, instytucje, organizacje

Author(s): Jacek Pietrzak / Language(s): English,Polish

The Second World War forced a substantial part of the Polish nationals to leave their own country. The migration of the majority of Poles was forcible, resulting from various forms of deportations staged by the German and Soviet occupying forces. The wandering was also experienced by the Polish military, fighting in the ranks of the units being assembled in foreign lands since the beginning of the War, as well as by the POWs and internees in the neutral countries. The Polish nationals were conscripted into both the German and Soviet invadersʼ armies too. Finally, Poland was left by the civilian refugees, mostly comprised of the representatives of the political, social and economic elites and the administrative apparatus of the state, as well as by the refugees of Jewish descent.

ULJE NA VODI. Ogledi iz istorije sadašnjosti Srbije

Author(s): Dubravka Stojanović / Language(s): Serbian

BOSZNIACKI NACJONALIZM. Strategie budowania narodu po 1995 roku

Author(s): Tomasz Rawski,Tomasz Rawski / Language(s): Polish

Książka poświęcona jest zagadnieniu budowania narodów w Europie Południowo-Wschodniej. Autor na przykładzie nacjonalizmu boszniackiego w Bośni i Hercegowinie pokazuje, że naród powstaje w trakcie nieustannej walki politycznej o treści symboliczne, które stanowią o jego istocie. Na podstawie reinterpretacji historycznego procesu wyłaniania się boszniackiego nacjonalizmu oraz systematycznej analizy współczesnej polityki pamięci odnoszącej się do wojny lat 1992–1995 Tomasz Rawski przedstawia specyfikę procesu budowania narodu – jego złożoną, wielowątkową dynamikę, pełną wewnętrznych napięć, tarć i sprzeczności.***Praca jest bogatym w warstwie empirycznej, oryginalnym teoretycznie wkładem w dyskusję o procesach narodowotwórczych i polityce pamięci na terenie byłej Jugosławii. (...) To dzieło dojrzałe, spójne, wciągające i bardzo potrzebne na polskim rynku wydawniczym.dr hab. Marcin Lubaś, prof. UJKsiążka Tomasza Rawskiego to nie tylko wąskie studium przypadku przeznaczone dla niewielkiego grona specjalistów; ze względu na teoretyczne zaplecze powinna zainteresować szersze grono czytelników – wszystkich, którzy chcieliby pogłębić swoją wiedzę na temat współczesnej teorii narodu i nacjonalizmu.dr hab. Krzysztof Jaskułowski, prof. SWPSTomasz Rawski – socjolog, bałkanista, adiunkt w Instytucie Socjologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, stypendysta m.in. University College London, University of Uppsala i University of Sarajevo. Zajmuje się problematyką nacjonalizmu, polityki symbolicznej, polityki pamięci oraz budowania państw i narodów w Europie Wschodniej. Zobacz więcej na: http://trawski.net.

Licht um Mitternacht.Fünf Jahre in der Welt der Verfemten

Author(s): Erica Wallach / Language(s): English,German

In this autobiographical book, Erica Wallach gives us a deep and personal insight into the experience of her five-year imprisonment. She was suspected of espionage and was sent to prisons in 1950 in the GDR and the Soviet Union as well as to the Workuta Soviet labor camp. Her husband, Robert R. Wallach, a soldier in the U.S. Army, and the their two children, waited in vain for her return to Paris, the Wallach family's place of residence at that time. They had no information about the reasons for her sudden disappearance and about Erica's whereabouts. The author describes the methods of totalitarian systems that are used to break prisoners in solitary confinement in order to obtain the desired confession from them. And she tells how she still managed to survive those years. This new, expanded edition has a German-English bilingual epilogue, written by Erica Wallach in the late 1970s and appearing here for the first time. <p> Erica Wallach gewährt uns in diesem autobiographischen Bericht einen tiefen und persönlichen Einblick in ihr Erleben jener fünf Jahre Inhaftierung, die Sie, der Spionage verdächtigt, ihrer Familie entrissen in Gefängnissen der DDR und der Sowjetunion sowie im sowjetischen Arbeitslager Workuta verbringen mußte, weil sie ihren Pflegeeltern Noel und Herta Field, die im damaligen Ostblock in Schwierigkeiten geraten waren, im August 1950 zur Hilfe eilen wollte und sich zu diesem Zweck nach Ost-Berlin begeben hatte. Ihr Ehemann, Robert R. Wallach, ein GI der U.S. Army, und die beiden gemeinsamen Kinder, warteten vergebens auf ihre Rückkehr nach Paris, dem Wohnort der Familie Wallach zu jener Zeit. Sie hatten keine Informationen über die Gründe des plötzlichen Verschwindens und erhielten keine Auskunft über den Aufenthaltsort von Erica Wallach. Die Autorin schildert jene Methoden totalitärer Systeme, mit deren Hilfe Gefangene in der Isolationshaft gebrochen werden, um von ihnen das gewünschte Geständnis zu erhalten. Und sie erzählt darüber wie es ihr trotzdem gelungen ist, jene Jahre zu überstehen. </p>