Polish historians in exile and the idea of East-Central Europe after 1945 Cover Image

Historycy polscy na emigracji wobec koncepcji Europy Środkowo -Wschodniej po 1945 roku
Polish historians in exile and the idea of East-Central Europe after 1945

Author(s): Rafał Stobiecki
Subject(s): History, History of ideas
Published by: Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: East-Central Europe; Polish historiography in XX century; Oscar Halecki; Piotr S. Wandycz; Anna M. Cienciała; Marian K. Dziewanowski

Summary/Abstract: Since the beginning of the twentieth century, historians have been increasingly interested in East-Central Europe. The purpose of the article is to analyse different ways of understanding the concept of East-Central Europe by Polish historians in exile after the Second World War. The author focuses attention mainly on the interpretations advanced by Oskar Halecki and Piotr S. Wandycz and, to a lesser degree, by Anna Cienciała and Marian K. Dziewanowski. All of these historians have been instrumental in making American historiographers see the history of the lands between Russia and Germany as distinct from Russian studies. Developed by P. S. Wandycz, the metaphor of a “laboratory where one tests different political systems” can be regarded as a fair representation of these historians’ understanding of the concept of East-Central Europe.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 8
  • Page Range: 63-75
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish