Andrzej Paczkowski

It is with great sadness that we received the news of the death of Prof. Andrzej Paczkowski, an outstanding historian, activist of the democratic opposition during the communist era in Poland, co-founder of our institute, and long-time head of the Department of Contemporary Political History. Professor Paczkowski was the founder of the underground Solidarity Archives and the author of fundamental works on, among other things, the history of the press, the history of the security apparatus and the political system of the Polish People’s Republic, and strategies of social resistance. His studies on the background to the introduction of martial law – “The Road to the ‘Lesser Evil’” and “The Polish-Jaruzelski War” – have become part of the canon of Polish historiography; his books “The Black Book of Communism” and “The Spring Will Be Ours” brought him international renown.

In the deceased, we bid farewell to a friend, colleague, and mentor to generations of Polish historians. The death of Prof. Paczkowski is a great loss for Polish science and public debate.