Historians of the Catholic University of Lublin in the Years 1918-1939

Abstract

The article presents the results of research on historians working at the Catholic University of Lublin in the interwar period, i.e., 1918—1939. It was the first period of the Lublin University activity, which was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. History was one of the most important sciences practiced at the Faculty of Humanities. A group of several historians working in the studied period often experienced personnel changes. Among them were researchers of international renown, such as Prof. Stanisław Ptaszycki, who came from the University of St. Petersburg, or Prof. Stanisław Smolka, former rector of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and a member of international scientific societies. The first one later became the Chief Director of the State Archives but commuted to lectures from Warsaw to Lublin. At that time, he contributed to the development of national archival science. Prof. Konstanty Chyliński made a ministerial career, working in the capital as Deputy Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education. Among the Church historians who worked at the Catholic University of Lublin at that time, one should mention priest Jan Czuj, who after the war became the first rector of the Academy of Catholic Theology, or priest Czesław Falkowski, later bishop ordinary of the dioccse of Łomża. Previous research on historians of Lublin, conducted thirty years ago, did not give definite results, so they should be re-run thoroughly. It is necessary to determine the number of historians again and reflect on its characteristics. For this, the prosopographic method was chosen.