E-books

Author: Philip Earl Steele
Series: Polish, German, and Austrian Jews and the modern idea of Israel. Volume 1
Publisher: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, 96 pages

This work may aptly be hailed as the first genuine breakthrough in Herzl studies in 30 years, i.e., since the work of Jacques Kornberg, Theodor Herzl: From Assimilation to Zionism from 1993. As Professor Derek Penslar, Harvard University, wrote in his review of Steele’s manuscript, “Steele’s reading does not in any way lessen Herzl’s unique contributions to the early Zionist movement, but precisely by focusing on concealment rather than revelation it exposes previously opaque aspects of Herzl’s persona … In sum, this is a masterful, responsible, and illuminating piece of scholarship that merits wide distribution and discussion”. This was underlined by Herzl’s biographer Dr. Steven Beller, who in his own review wrote, “That Steele’s monograph has led me, an author who has also had to investigate and understand the complex mind of Herzl, to such a disquisition on this central question of how much Herzl’s thought was original or not, is an indication, I think, of how powerful Steele’s work is, and how much it will set other scholars of Herzl and Zionism thinking”.

Author: Johann Tietz vel Titius
Edited by: Igor Kąkolewski
Series: Quellen und Darstellungen zur deutsch-polnischen Beziehungsgeschichte in der Frühen Neuzeit und im 19. Jahrhundert. Volume 3
Publishers: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Berlin and Warsaw 2023, 207 pages

Can an astronomer also be a historian? Yes, and appreciated too. Johann Daniel Tietz, also known as Titius, proved his versatility by publishing not only outstanding works devoted to celestial bodies, but also the history of his hometown of Chojnice and Royal Prussia – a former Polish province covering today’s northern part of the country. Tietz’s Total Surrender of the Prussian Lands to Poland was first published in 1766. Our edition includes the German-language original and Polish translation, as well as the afterword and comments by Professor Igor Kąkolewski.

Author: Markus Meckel
Edited by: Łukasz Jasiński
Series: Przełomy i ludzie dialogu. Z historii polsko-niemieckiego porozumienia. Volume 3
Publisher: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Berlin and Warsaw 2023, 315 pages 

The book captures the complexity of the history of the Evangelical Church in the German Democratic Republic as a hotbed of independent thinking and free discussion in a communist dictatorship. Markus Meckel (b. 1952) made an important contribution to the organisation of the democratic opposition in the early 1980s and subsequently to the fall of the GDR regime. Meckel’s memoirs offer a valuable historical witness’s view of German-Polish relations from an East German perspective rarely seen outside Germany.

Author: Paweł Matwiejczuk
Series: Źródła i opracowania do dziejów stosunków polsko-niemieckich w epoce nowożytnej i XIX wieku. Volume 2
Publishers: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Berlin and Warsaw 2022, 368 pages

Were there any intellectual contacts between Polish and German thinkers during the Reformation? Yes, and they were quite rich. Paweł Matwiejczuk’s book shows these relations on the example of Philip Melanchthon’s 40-year correspondence with the Poles. His letters and other writings allow us to get to know the prominent 16th-century religious reformer anew as a thinker, theologian and educator fascinated by Poland and its people.

Author: Władysław Bartoszewski
Edited by: Marcin Barcz, Małgorzata Preisner-Stokłosa, Igor Kąkolewski, Piotr Bachurzewski
Series: Wendepunkte und Persönlichkeiten des Dialogs. Aus der Geschichte der deutsch-polnischen Verständigung. Volume 2
Publisher: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Berlin and Warsaw 2022, 594 pages 

The book contains German translations of speeches on Polish-German relations made over the course of 50 years by Władysław Bartoszewski (1922–2015), one of the most recognisable participants in the dialogue between the two nations. The publication is also a testimony to the author’s experiences, spanning the period of World War II, communist rule in Poland and democratisation after 1989. 

Author: Richard Butterwick
Series: Quellen und Darstellungen zur deutsch-polnischen Beziehungsgeschichte in der Frühen Neuzeit und im 19. Jahrhundert. Volume 1
Publishers: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Polish History Museum, Pilecki Institute in Berlin, Polish Institute in Berlin, Berlin and Warsaw 2021, 186 pages

The Constitution of the 3 May 1791 was the first constiution in Poland and Europe. In what circumstances was it enacted? What was its significance for the the then inhabitants of Poland and for subsequent generations? What does this constitution symbolise and why is it still an important for the Polish historical identity? The author answers  these and many other questions in his comprehensive book.

Edited by: Burkhard Olschowsky
Series: Przełomy i ludzie dialogu. Z historii polsko-niemieckiego porozumienia. Volume 1
Publisher: Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Berlin and Warsaw 2021, 232 pages 

The book tells the story of Enno Meyer (1913–1996), a German historian and high school teacher from Oldenburg. Family, colleagues, students and researchers remember Meyer, a former Wehrmacht soldier who, after the Second World War, was committed to the reconciliation of Germans with Poles and Jews. He presented the dimensions of Nazi crimes to his students, building a culture of remembrance based on discussion and democratic values. 

Edited by: Bogusław Dybaś i Igor Kąkolewski
Publisher: Polish Academy of Sciences – Scientific Centre in Vienna, Vienna 2018, 171 pages

The book was inspired by the project for a Polish-German history textbook. During the works on the it, a question came up about history teaching in the Habsburg Monarchy. This led to a symposium organized in 2016 in Vienna. The book contains speeches delivered there about Polish research on history teaching in Galicia, a former Austro-Hungarian region covering parts of today’s southern Poland.