Logo Polskiego Radia

Poland honours historian Norman Davies

PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle 13.02.2012 11:20
British historian Norman Davies has received the Aleksander Gieysztor Memorial Prize for his services in the promotion of Polish cultural heritage abroad.

/

A citation of the award’s selection panel stresses Norman Davies’s thorough and comprehensive studies examining the links of the heritage of Poland and of Central and Eastern Europe with the heritage of the entire continent.

It adds that his books have played an enormous role in enhancing Poland’s prestige.
Professor Norman Davies – best known for his Europe: a history (1996) and The Isles: a history (1999) said in his thank you remarks that one of the main goals of his writings is to make as many people as possible acquainted with the history of Poland and Eastern Europe.

The Gieysztor Prize carries a cash award of 50,000 zloty (ca. 12, 000 euro).
Professor Davies said he would use the money to buy a round-the-world ticket and go on a lecture tour on Polish history.

Born in Bolton in 1939, Davies studied in Oxford, Grenoble, Perugia and Sussex, before gaining a doctorate from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków for a study on the Polish-Soviet War of 1920.

He was on the faculty of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London, also lecturing at many prestigious universities, including those in Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia, Stanford and Harvard. Poland has occupied a special place in his research and academic activity for 45 years now.

His studies on Poland include Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland and Rising'44. The Battle for Warsaw.

He is an honorary citizen of Warsaw, Wrocław, Lublin and Kraków. In 1966, he married Maria Korzeniewicz, a Polish scholar. They have two sons.

The Aleksander Gieysztor Memorial Prize is awarded annually by The Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, which was established in 1995 by Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. to mark its 125th anniversary. (mk/pg)

tags: History
Print
Copyright © Polskie Radio S.A About Us Contact Us