A breakthrough in the political activity of Władysław Konopczyński took place in 1922 and involved winning the seat of a parliamentary deputy from the Popular–National Union ticket. Subsequently, Konopczyński remained in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland during a whole term of office (1922–1927), frequently speaking about education and schools of higher learning, and presenting motions concerning copyright, a statue on the freedom of assembly, and, predominantly, the introduction of the numerus clausus at universities and polytechnics. In 1925–1939 Konopczyński became actively involved in a struggle against the Piłsudskiites and reacted to the May 1926 coup d’état in a series of press articles criticising both the Marshal and his supporters. This uncompromising stance earned him many enemies within the ruling circles. The political career pursued by Konopczyński was not long–lasting; in 1930 he failed in the election to the Senate, and five years later resigned from all political endeavours due to his disapproval of the dictatorial tendency within the National Party. On the eve of the Second World War Konopczyński was an adherent of the Front Morges political alliance.
This article is devoted to Władysław Konopczyński (1880–1952), one of the most distinguished Polish historians of the twentieth century, and his view of the role of Gdańsk – the most powerful city in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – in Poland’s history. The historian is shown to have held an ambivalent view of the city’s role in Polish history. Stressing the importance of Poland’s access to the sea and appreciating the city’s collaboration with the rest of the country, Konopczyński criticised what he considered to have been the symptoms of the city’s egoism.
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Artykuł poświęcony jest twórczości jednego z najwybitniejszych historyków polskich XX w., Władysława Konopczyńskiego (1880–1952). Autorka skupia się na kwestii postrzegania przez Konopczyńskiego roli Gdańska – najpotężniejszego miasta szlacheckiej Rzeczypospolitej, ambiwalentnie ocenianego przez historyka, który eksponując znaczenie dostępu do morza dla rozwoju państwa, podkreśla wagę współpracy gdańsko-polskiej, ale ostro krytykuje działania postrzegane jako przejawy egoizmu miasta.
Autor niniejszego tekstu skoncentrował się na działalności Władysława Konopczyńskiego w Polskim Towarzystwie Historycznym w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego, którą przedstawił w świetle dziennika uczonego i jego listów. Przez cały ten okres Konopczyński był spiritus movens tej organizacji. Potrafił tchnąć życie w skostniały krakowski oddział PTH i zainspirować członków do zbiorowych wysiłków badawczych. Na konferencji w kwietniu 1920 r. zaprezentował program utworzenia ogólnopolskiej organizacji historyków z centralą we Lwowie. Jego pomysłowi środowisko krakowskie pozostało wierne przez cały okres dwudziestolecia międzywojennego. Pomimo rozlicznych inicjatyw i niespożytej energii, jego działalność w Towarzystwie nie była wolna od konfliktów. Ich początek datuje się na rok 1928, kiedy to stronnicy sanacji wbrew opinii krakowskiego historyka przegłosowali nadanie Józefowi Piłsudskiemu członkostwa honorowego PTH. Do kolejnego sporu doszło dwa lata później, podczas przygotowań do V Zjazdu Historyków Polskich w Warszawie. Organizatorzy poprosili o patronat nad zjazdem Piłsudskiego, pełniącego wtedy funkcję prezesa rady ministrów, co doprowadziło do demonstracyjnego opuszczenia kongresu przez Konopczyńskiego. Z kolei za pierwszej prezesury Franciszka Bujaka uczony bronił pozycji ośrodka krakowskiego przed hegemonistycznymi zakusami Warszawy. Zrezygnowawszy za szefostwa Ludwika Kolankowskiego z członkostwa w Zarządzie Głównym i wiceprezesury krakowskiego oddziału, do działalności w Towarzystwie Konopczyński powrócił dopiero po 1945 r. Władysław Konopczyński’s Activity in the Polish Historical Society (1913–1939)The author focused on the activity of Władysław Konopczyński for the Polish Historical Society in the interwar years, presented in the light of the scholar’s diary and letters. Throughout all the interwar period the historian was the spiritus movens of the Society, and was able to breathe new life into the fossilized Cracow branch of the PHS and inspire its members to a collective research effort. At a conference in April 1920 he presented a programme for the formation of a Poland-wide organisation for historians with its centre in Lvov. The Cracow community of scholars remained loyal to his idea throughout the whole interwar period. Despite his numerous initiatives and indefatigable energy, Konopczyński’s activity in the Society was not without tensions and conflicts. Their beginning dates to 1928 when supporters of the Sanacja regime, against the historian’s will, voted for an honorary membership to the PHS for Józef Piłsudski. Two years later, another controversy erupted during the preparations for the Fifth Convention of Polish Historians in Warsaw. The organisers invited Piłsudski, at that time Chairman of the Council of Ministers, to take the patronage of the convention, and this provoked Kopczyński to ostentatiously leave the congress session. Next, under the first presidency of Franciszek Bujak, the historian defended the position of the Cracow branch against hegemonic designs of Warsaw. And it was not until 1945 that Konopczyński, who under the presidency of Ludwik Kolankowski resigned from the General Board and vice-presidency of the Cracow branch, resumed his activities in the Society.
The Polish Biographical Dictionary (Polski Słownik Biograficzny, abbr. PSB) is one of the most prestigious publications in Polish historiography. Published since 1935, with the editorial board domiciled in Cracow, at 17 Sławkowska St.; from 1935 to 1949, under the patronage of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences [PAU], 1958–99 – Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences [IH PAN]; since 1999 – both PAN and PAU, with IH PAN acting as the publisher. During the eighty-five years of its existence (temporarily discontinued during the Second World War and the Stalinist period, 1949–58), fifty-two volumes with almost 28,000 biographical entries were published, arranged alphabetically – from ‘Abakanowicz’ to ‘Taube’, and chronologically spanning from the legendary King Popiel until persons who died in 2000. The Dictionary was founded by Władysław Konopczyński, a professor of the Jagiellonian University of Cracow, who was its first editor-in-chief (in 1935–49). Professor Emanuel Rostworowski, his former student and editor-in-chief in 1964–89, heavily contributed to bringing the project up to top standard, which was maintained by his successors, literary historians Professor Henryk Markiewicz (1989–2002) and, from 2003 onwards, Professor Andrzej Romanowski. Between December 2014 and 2019, more than 8,500 entries were digitalised and made available at: www.ipsb.nina.gov.pl.
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