On 13 December, the anniversary of Henryk Wereszycki’s birth, winners were announced in the 21st contest for publications on the history of the Central-East Europe and its relationship with Poland from the Middle Ages to the present day. The Prize is awarded every year, alternately to Polish and foreign researchers. This year it was presented to Prof. Michael G. Müller and Jiří Friedl.
The Wacław Felczak and Henryk Wereszycki Prize was established in 2001 by the Kraków Branch of the Polish Historical Association and the Faculty of History of the Jagiellonian University. This prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding achievements of Polish and foreign authors of books on Central-Eastern European history published during the last three years. The award, worth 20 thousand zlotys, is funded by the Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing and the JU Faculty of History.
Henryk Wereszycki was an eminent historian specialising in the history of post-partition Poland, European diplomacy, and the Habsburg Monarchy, whereas Prof. Wacław Felczak conducted research in the history of Hungary, Central Europe and south Slavic lands in the 19th and 20th century. Both award patrons were Jagiellonian University scholars, greatly respected in the academic community. Their research works filled gaps in Polish historical studies and both academics showed great steadfastness and integrity during the hard times of communism.
This year’s Honorary Prize, awarded in recognition of accomplishments in research and research communication, went to Prof. Michael G. Müller, who was honoured for his overall achievements in these fields, especially as the editor of the series of books Polen in der Europäischen Geschichte, whose latest volume was co-authored by Igor Kąkolewski, Karsten Holste, and Robert Traba.
“It is a monumental work, which provides a German-speaking reader with an abundance of knowledge about the history of Poland and its place in the history of Europe”, remarked the head of the award chapter Prof. Michał Pułaski.
Michael G. Müller studied history and Slavic Studies at the Johan Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. From 1992 to 1996 he was a Central-Eastern European history professor at the European University Institute in Florence. Since 1996 he has been an Eastern European history professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. In 2012 he was conferred doctorate honoris causa of the University of Warsaw. His research interests encompass comparative constitutional history of Central Europe and Russia in the early modern period, international relations in the 18th century Europe, and social history of elites from the 18th to the 20th century.
Due to pandemic situation, Prof. Müller joined the ceremony online and the prize will be sent to him by post.
The main prize went to Jiří Friedl for his book Domů, a za svobodou. Role Československa v migracích obyvatel Polska v letech 1945–1948. This perfectly documented work, based on an enornous amount of archive data, discusses the mechanisms of a massive migration that occurred in Czechoslovakian territory, which so-far remained obscure. According to the author, it is estimated that over one million people - Poles, Ukrainians, former concentration camp prisoners, refugees from communist regimes, and members of secret courier networks – crossed borders of this country.
Jiří Friedl is an academic at the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Brno branch) and a lecturer at the Masaryk University in Brno. He specialises in the history of Poland in the 20th century, with special focus on the Polish-Czech and Polish Czechoslovak relations as well as the Polish national minority in Zaolzie, which have been subject of a number of his articles published in the Czech Republic and Poland.
The Prize Chapter, headed by Prof. Michał Pułaski also decided to award authors of three books with honorary mentions:
- Enes S. Omerović, Nacjonalne manjine u Bosni i Hercegovini (1918– 1941),
- Slaven Kale, Poljaci, naša braća na sjeveru. Hrvatska javnost o Poljacima 1860–1903,
- Jan Hálek, Boris Mosković, Fenomén Maffie. Český (domácí) protirakouský odboj v proměnách 20. století.
The award was presented to Jiří Friedl by the Rector of the Jagiellonian University Prof. Jacek Popiel, accompanied by the President of Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing Jolanta Korkuć, the Dean of the JU Faculty of History Prof. Stanisław Sroka, the head of the award chapter Prof. Kazimierz Pułaski and the President of the Kraków Branch of the Polish Historical Society Dr Marcin Jarząbek.
