Section for the History of Gdańsk and the Maritime History of Poland

Head: Professor Edmund Kizik

Associate professor Sylwia Bykowska
Dr hab. Marcin Grulkowski – Section Secretary
Dr Zofia Maciakowska
Dr Katarzyna Pękacka-Falkowska

Cooperators:
Dr Marcin Swobodziński

Contact:
Aleja Zwycięstwa 57
80-207 Gdańsk
phone: 058 520 40 19
e-mai: pracownia.gdanska@ihpan.edu.pl

History of the Section

Section for the History of Gdańsk and the Maritime History of Poland was founded in 1955 as one of the two sections forming the Department of the History of Pomerania of the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Its first and long-term leader was Professor Edmund Cieślak. Since the very beginning, the Section has been an important centre carrying out and coordinating research on the history of Gdańsk from the 14th century to the present day. The supra-regional economic, political and cultural importance of the city in the past made it necessary to expand the section’s research interests into the wider area of the influence of the Hanseatic League. One important achievement has been the publication of a five-volume synthesis of the history of Gdańsk (Historia Gdańska, ed. E. Cieślak, vol. 1: Do roku 1454, Gdańsk, 1978; vol. 2: 1454–1655, Gdańsk, 1982; vol. 3/1: 1655–1793, Gdańsk, 1993; vol. 3/2: 1793–1815, Gdańsk, 1993; vol. 4/1: 1815–1920, Sopot, 1998; vol. 4/2: 1920–1945, Sopot, 1999; vol. 5: Bibliografia Gdańska, Sopot, 1997). Another of the Section’s subjects of research work has been source editing. The most important example of this is the publication of the sources produced by the French consular post in Gdańsk in the 18th century (Raporty rezydentów francuskich w Gdańsku w XVIII wieku (1715–1719), ed. E. Kizik, J. Rumiński, Gdańsk, 1964; vol. 2: (1720–1721), ed. E. Cieślak, J. Rumiński, Gdańsk, 1968; vol. 3: (1787–1790), ed. E. Cieślak, Gdańsk, 1976).

The leaders of the Section

1955–1992

Edmund Cieślak (1922–2007), doctor in law (1950), lecturer in history (1954), associate professor (1963), full professor (1974); in 1949–1953 employed at the Faculty of Law of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, since 1953 in the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In the years 1954–1992, head of the Gdańsk Section of IH PAN; worked at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Pedagogy in Gdańsk (later the University of Gdańsk), and in the years 1960–1962 served as the dean of the Faculty of Humanities of the University; one of the most outstanding Gdańsk historians after World War II; a specialist in the history of Gdańsk in the late medieval and modern periods, especially with regard to the role of the city in the Hanseatic League, internal conflicts in Gdańsk in the 15th–18th centuries, the attitude of Gdańsk towards Poland, Gdańsk trade and Gdańsk’s fiscal policy.

1993–2006

Jerzy Trzoska (b. 1941), doctor (1970), habilitation (1989), professor (1995); since 1964 employed in the Section for the History of Gdańsk of IH PAN, in 1993–2006 as its leader; he lectured at the Institute of History and International Relations of the University of Szczecin in 2000–2007, in 2007–2008 at the Gdańsk Higher School of Humanities, and in 2008–2012 at the Institute of History and Politics of the Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk; specialist in the history of crafts in Gdańsk in the 17th–18th centuries, shipping and trade in the Baltic Sea, the Baltic policy of Poland in the 18th century, and the role of Gdańsk in the international relations of the modern period.

Since 2006

Edmund Kizik (b. 1960), doctor (1992), habilitation (1998), professor (2005); employed in the Institute of History of the University of Gdańsk since 1986, and since 2005 in the Section for the History of Gdańsk and the Maritime History of Poland of IH PAN, head of the Section since 2006. His research interests focus on everyday life in modern Gdańsk and the Baltic region, including in particular the uses of houses in Gdańsk, selected issues of Gdańsk law, Polish–German relations from the 16th century to the present day, the history of the society and culture of Gdańsk, and Royal and Western Prussia, as well as historical iconography.

Literature: Bogucka M., “Edmund Cieślak (7 XI 1922 – 22 IX 2007)”, Kwartalnik Historyczny, 115 (2008), no. 1, pp. 161–163; Kizik E., “Profesor Edmund Cieślak (1922–2007)”, Gdański Rocznik Ewangelicki, 1 (2007), pp. 125–130; Staszewski J., “Zmarł Profesor Edmund Cieślak”, Zapiski Historyczne, 73 (2008), nos. 2–3, pp. 263–266; Trzoska J., “Słowo wstępne”, in: Strefa bałtycka w XVI–XVIII w. Polityka – Społeczeństwo – Gospodarka. Ogólnopolska sesja naukowa zorganizowana z okazji 70-lecia urodzin Profesora Edmunda Cieślaka, ed. J. Trzoska, Gdańsk, 1993, pp. 7–12; Trzoska J., “Edmund Cieślak (1922–2007)”, Rocznik Gdański, 67–68 (2007–2008), pp. 123–132; Trzoska J., “Profesor Edmund Cieślak (7 listopada 1922 – 19 września 2007)”, Nautologia, 43 (2008), no. 145, pp. 128–129; Hajduk B., “The Life and Activities of Professor Jerzy Trzoska”, Studia Maritima, 24 (2011), pp. 9–13.

Activities of the Section

In recent years, the Section’s predominant area of research interest has been the houses and the uses of residential buildings in Gdańsk from the late Middle Ages to the first half of the 19th century. The research results will be summarized in 2024 in the publication of a synthesis of the history of houses in Gdańsk (Dom gdański i jego mieszkańcy od późnego średniowiecza do pierwszej połowy XIX wieku / The Gdańsk houses and their habitants from the late Middle Ages to the first half of the 19th century, ed. by E. Kizik). For this reason, the Section publishes a series of publications entitled Studia i materiały do dziejów domu gdańskiego [Studies and materials for the history of the Gdańsk House], vols. 1–4. This area of research is financed by the National Science Centre (OPUS 5 grant call).

The editorial activities of the Section are focused on the rich collections of the State Archive in Gdańsk and of the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The primary source material for the editions includes the chronicles written in the city from the 16th to 18th centuries which form part of the Bibliotheca Archivi collection (Historisches Kirchen Register by Eberhard Bötticher) and the records of Main Town Gdańsk from the 14th–15th centuries. , Researchers from the Section also participated in the project of digital edition of the commercial books of the Loitz family’s banking and trading house from the 16th century preserved in Gdańsk. An important aspect of the section’s activities is the coordination of editorial work on the preparation of a synthesis of the post-war history of Gdańsk and its region. The Section gave rise to a team of researchers comprising a group of academics from the University of Gdańsk and Dr Peter O. Loew from the Deutsches Polen-Institut in Darmstadt). As part of research work on the history of Gdańsk in the post-war period the series “Gdańsk 1945–1990” (vol. 1–4) was published.