Richard C. Lukas | |
---|---|
Born | Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S. | August 29, 1937
Known for | The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Florida State University |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Polish history |
Institutions | Wright State University |
Website | www |
Richard Conrad Lukas (born August 29,1937) is an American historian and author of books and articles on military,diplomatic,Polish,and Polish-American history. He specializes in the history of Poland during World War II.
Before retiring from active teaching in 1995,he taught and did research at Tennessee Technological University,Wright State University,and the University of South Florida.
Lukas is best known for The Forgotten Holocaust:The Poles Under German Occupation,1939–1944 (1986),a study of the wartime experience of the Polish people.
Lukas was born on August 29,1937,in Lynn,Massachusetts,to Pelagia Lukaszewski (née Kapuscinski) and her husband,Franciszek Lukaszewski. After receiving a BA in 1957, [1] he worked as a research consultant,from 1957 to 1958,at the United States Air Force Historical Archives. [2] [3] He was awarded an MA in 1960 [1] and a PhD from Florida State University in 1963,for a thesis entitled "Air Force Aspects of American Aid to the Soviet Union:The Crucial Years 1941–1942". [4] [5]
Lukas worked at Tennessee Technological University for 26 years from 1963,first as an assistant professor until 1966,then associate professor until 1969, [3] and professor from then until 1989. He moved from Tennessee that year to Wright State University,teaching at its Lake campus until 1992. [1] After this he worked as an adjunct professor of history at the Fort Myers campus of the University of South Florida until retiring in 1995. [2] [6]
As a graduate student,Lukas was a contributor to the project that resulted in the publication of Air Force Combat Units of World War II (1961). [7]
Lukas' first book, Eagles East:The Army Air Forces and the Soviet Union,1941-1945 (1970),a military-diplomatic study based on his doctoral dissertation,earned him the national history award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. [3]
R. S. Hughes writing for the Military Affairs commended the book for its "extensive and detailed coverage of Allied-Soviet relations during World War II",and noted that it is particularly helpful for its discussion of the Lend-Lease program. [8] Raymond L. Garthoff reviewing the book for the Slavic Review wrote that it is a "useful study" and "recommended reading" for those interested in the political-military history of USA-USSR relations during World War II with regard to interactions between the U.S. Army Air Forces and the USSR. [9]
James J. Hudson in The American Historical Review called the book "an excellent example of military-diplomatic history". [10] Sam Frank,in his review for The Journal of American History ,wrote that the book "reflects extensive research and effective writing. An excellent balance has been achieved between factual presentation and interpretation." [11]
Lukas wrote two scholarly books on Allied wartime and postwar relations with Poland. His book, The Strange Allies:Poland and the United States,1941-1945 (1978) studied in-depth the relationship between the United States and the Polish government-in-exile and highlighted the impact of American Polonia in United States-Polish relations. [12] The sequel to The Strange Allies was Bitter Legacy:Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II (1982),which dealt with postwar Polish history and Polish-American relations,as well as the aid that was extended to Poland after World War II. [13] George J. Lerski reviewing the book for The American Historical Review called it an "important and well-documented study" featuring "impeccable research in primary and secondary sources". [14]
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944 (1986) is Lukas' most famous work and has been re-published in two subsequent editions (1997 and 2012, with a foreword by historian Norman Davies). [15] [16] [17] It focuses on the sufferings of ethnic Poles in German- and Soviet-occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945. [18]
Reviewers had differing views of the book. [19] [20] [21] [18] [22] [23] [15] [24] [25] Donald E. Pienkos published a review in the Slavic Review (1986) that he later described as "generally praising the book"; [26] it was followed by a critical review by David Engel in the same venue describing Lukas' book as a one-sided rebuke of "Jewish historians" and detailing "distortion, misrepresentation, and inaccuracy" in the book. [19] An extensive correspondence followed among Lukas, Engel, and others in Slavic Review. [26] Michael R. Marrus wrote in The Washington Post that "Lukas tells this story with an outrage properly contained within the framework of a scholarly narrative" but criticized what he felt was an unjustified "sustained polemic against Jewish historians". [20] George Sanford noted in International Affairs that in tackling the subject of the suffering of ethnic Poles, Lukas's work is "strictly objective and academic in tone, presentation and content. But the underlying purpose is inevitably a polemical one, as he has to rake over the smouldering ashes of numerous sensitive controversies." [21]
Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust (1989) is a volume edited by Lukas dealing with memoirs of Poles concerning the Holocaust. John Klier noted in his review in The Slavonic and East European Review that the book is "a useful contribution" to the literature about The Holocaust in Poland. [27] Jerzy Jan Lerski writing for The Polish Review called the book "timely", but noted it is the weakest of Lukas' books up to date, criticizing it as "uneven, poorly organized and [lacking] focus". [28] The book was also reviewed in German by Dieter Pohl for Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas . [29]
Karl A. Schleunes in his review of Lukas's book Did the Children Cry?: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939–45 (1994) for The American Historical Review noted that it deals with an under-researched topic, and is a valuable contribution to studies of Germanization and the Holocaust. Schleunes writes that "Lukas makes it a point... to stress 'the commonality of suffering of Jewish and Polish children', an effort in which he largely succeeds." [30] Barbara Tepa Lupack, in The Polish Review , wrote that "Lukas in the current volume provides a gripping portrait of the Nazis' systematic genocide plan for all of Poland as well as an excellent analysis of the relationship between Poland's Jewish and gentile communities". [31]
The book received the Janusz Korczak Literary Award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The biennial prize, awarded to books about children, was recommended by a panel of judges. The decision of the ADL’s own literary committee had been overrulled by the political leadership of the organization under Abraham Foxman, which decided to withdraw the prize ten days before the award ceremony but reinstated it when Lukas threatened to sue them. The ADL cancelled the award ceremony and mailed the $1000 US prize money to Lukas. According to the ADL, the book was "problematic in several ways" and "strongly understated the level of anti-Semitism in Poland. It also strongly overstated the number of people who rescued Jews." [17] [32] [33] ADL decision to withdraw the prize has been criticized by Danuta Mostwin , member of the panel and founder of the award, Joseph Kutrzeba, Holocaust survivor and film director, Theresa K. Bunk of the Polish American Congress, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Union, and historian Victor S. Mamatey. [17] [34] The event has been discussed in the context of anti-Polonism. [35]
Lukas' continuing interest in the Polish tragedy during World War II culminated in his final volume, the Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation (2004). [36] Isabel Wollaston in her review of the book for The Slavonic and East European Review noted that "if approached as a memorial volume and/or a collection of oral histories, this is a fascinating book", but due to methodological issues and containing mostly primary accounts, "it should be handled with care and needs to be supplemented and contextualized from other sources if it is to be used for scholarly purposes". [37]
He has received awards for his work:
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Marek Jan Chodakiewicz is a Polish-American historian specializing in Central European history of the 19th and 20th centuries. He teaches at the Patrick Henry College and at the Institute of World Politics. He has been described as conservative and nationalistic, and his attitude towards minorities has been widely criticized.
Eastern Galicia is a geographical region in Western Ukraine, having also essential historic importance in Poland.
"Restatement of Policy on Germany", or the "Speech of Hope", is a speech given by James F. Byrnes, the US Secretary of State, in Stuttgart on September 6, 1946.
Szmalcownik ; in English, also sometimes spelled shmaltsovnik) is a pejorative Polish slang expression that originated during the Holocaust in Poland in World War II and refers to a person who blackmailed Jews who were in hiding, or who blackmailed Poles who aided Jews, during the German occupation. By stripping Jews of their financial resources, blackmailers added substantially to the danger that Jews and their rescuers faced and increased their chances of being caught and killed.
Tadeusz Piotrowski or Thaddeus Piotrowski is a Polish-American sociologist and author. He is a professor of sociology in the Social Science Division of the University of New Hampshire at Manchester in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland is a book published in 2000 written by Princeton University historian Jan T. Gross exploring the July 1941 Jedwabne massacre committed against Polish Jews by their non-Jewish neighbors in the village of Jedwabne in Nazi-occupied Poland.
The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999 is a 2003 book by Timothy Snyder and published by the Yale University Press. It focuses on the last few hundred years of history of several Central and Eastern European countries; in particular, states descended from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, once the largest state of early modern Europe: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. The book is concerned with the emergence of those modern states through the troubled history of that region, which included wars and ethnic cleansing, and concludes that national reconciliation and good neighbourly relations are possible even after such difficult events.
The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939–1945 is a book by American historian Joshua D. Zimmerman, published in 2015 by Cambridge University Press, discussing relations between Poland's Jewish population and the Polish resistance in World War II. Zimmerman argues that polarized narratives, one picturing the Polish underground as anti-Semitic and murderous toward Jews and the other hand as heroically rescuing them, are oversimplified; in fact, different segments and members of the Home Army behaved in diverse ways. The book has received mostly-positive reviews for its evenhanded treatment of a contentious subject matter.
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939–1944 is a 1986 book by Richard C. Lukas on the killing of, and other crimes against, Jewish and non-Jewish Poles by the Germans during the 1939–1945 occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It has been described as Lukas' most famous book.
The Generation: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Communists of Poland is a 1991 book about the intersection of communism in Poland and Polish Jewry. Its primary focus are the Polish Jews of the generation born in the early 1900s, many of whom embraced the communist ideology.
Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II is a 1982 book by Richard C. Lukas, published by the University Press of Kentucky. It deals with the postwar Polish history and Polish-American relations, as well as the American aid that was extended to Poland after World War II.
Eagles East: The Army Air Forces and the Soviet Union, 1941–1945 is a 1970 book by Richard C. Lukas. Published by Florida State University Press, it is a military-diplomatic study focusing on the World War II relations between the United States Army Air Forces and the USSR.
The Strange Allies: Poland and the United States, 1941-1945 is a 1978 book by Richard C. Lukas, published by University of Tennessee Press. It deals with the relationship between the United States and the Polish government-in-exile during World War II and highlighted the impact of American Polonia in United States-Polish relations.
Rachel Feldhay Brenner was a Polish-born college professor, writer, and scholar of Jewish literature. She was president of the Association for Israel Studies from 2007 to 2009.
This is a select bibliography of English language books and journal articles about the history of Poland. A brief selection of English translations of primary sources is included. Book entries have references to journal articles and reviews about them when helpful. Additional bibliographies can be found in many of the book-length works listed below; see Further Reading for several book and chapter-length bibliographies. The External Links section contains entries for publicly available select bibliographies from universities and national libraries. This bibliography specifically excludes non-history related works and self-published books.
This is a select bibliography of English language books and journal articles about the history of Poland during World War II. A brief selection of English translations of primary sources is included. Book entries have references to journal articles and reviews about them when helpful. Additional bibliographies can be found in many of the book-length works listed below; see Further Reading for several book and chapter-length bibliographies. The External Links section contains entries for publicly available select bibliographies from universities. This bibliography specifically excludes non-history related works and self-published books.
The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War is a 2012 book by Halik Kochanski about the Polish contribution to World War II and published by Harvard University Press.
Poland’s Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947 is a 1998 book by sociologist Tadeusz Piotrowski. It concerns the topic of Poland's history in the interwar period as well as in World War II, with particular focus on the uneasy relations between various ethnic groups of the Second Polish Republic.