Waclaw Felczak

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Wacław Felczak (1946)

Wacław Felczak , actually Jan Felczak , (born May 29, 1916 in Golbice , † October 23, 1993 in Warsaw ) was a Polish historian who specialized in the history of Hungary . During the Second World War he was active in the Polish underground movement. After the war he was imprisoned by the communist regime in Poland, sentenced to life imprisonment and pardoned in 1956. He then began his academic career and was committed to Polish-Hungarian relations.

biography

Youth and education

The Eötvös Collegium in Budapest

Felczak was the eighth and youngest child of Antoni and Michalina von Pałczyński, owners of a large farm; a communist judge later described him as the "son of a rich landlord". His real first name was Jan , but he was called Wacław as a child . His father was a well-known local social activist and his mother came from a noble family that was impoverished as a result of the repression after the Polish-Russian War of 1830/31 . Family members were exiled to Siberia for participating in uprisings against Russia .

In the interwar period Wacław Felczak took a degree in history at the University in Poznan on. At the suggestion of Professor Kazimierz Chodynicki , he learned Hungarian and specialized in the history of Hungary. He organized an academic circle of friends of Hungary and received a two- semester scholarship to study in Budapest , where he was housed in the Eötvös Collegium . As early as 1938, his Hungarian was so good that he was able to give a speech in Budapest. When his fellowship was extended in 1939, he was in Poland and World War II broke out. In the spring of 1940 his family was driven out of Golbice by the Germans.

War and post-war period

His brother Zygmunt convinced Felczak to join the underground movement. In April 1940, he founded an office in Budapest as the starting point of a secret courier to the in London located Sikorski government in exile to maintain contact. He brought money, information and instructions to the resistance movement active in occupied Poland. Between 1940 and 1948 he illegally crossed the borders 75 times as a courier alone. Over the " Green Border " he usually used the route from Zakopane through the Tatra Mountains to Rožňava (Rosenau) . Resistance fighters like him were called Tatra couriers , Felczak was nicknamed gazda na Korpielówce (Farmer from Korpielówce) . Many couriers were killed in their activities, and Felczak narrowly escaped arrest on several occasions. In addition to his courier activity, he tried to win sympathy for Poland in Hungary. However, when a pro-German position solidified in Hungary, his status in Budapest became more and more precarious. On the other hand, there were internal disputes in his office because the employees pursued different political goals. After the invasion of Hungary by the Wehrmacht, he had to go into hiding. After being imprisoned, he managed to escape before being handed over to the Gestapo , where he broke an ankle . At the end of August 1944 he returned to Poland. One of his sisters and three brothers had died in the war.

The end of the war was followed by a period of “waiting and uncertainty” in Poland. In 1946, Wacław Felczak tried to clarify the fate of Józek Krzeptowski , who had been deported to the Soviet Union . He then traveled to Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne to write his dissertation with Charles-Henri Pouthas . However, he soon went back to Poland to resume political activities. In 1948, on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk, he organized the departure of members of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish People's Party) from communist Poland. He was arrested in Moravská Ostrava in Czechoslovakia and extradited to Poland. He spent two years in custody and was tortured during interrogation. In 1951 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for espionage and high treason ; until the trial, his family had no information about his whereabouts. In 1956 Felczak was released on medical grounds as part of an amnesty .

Academic activities

The following year, Felczak was appointed to the Faculty of History at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow by Henryk Wereszycki , and he resumed his research on the history of Hungary. In 1966 he wrote the book Historia Węgier , which was highly praised in Hungary. However, the Polish authorities did not allow him to visit Hungary; he was only able to conduct his research on the basis of personal contacts. Among them was the director of the Hungarian State Archives , István Borsa, whom he knew from his studies before the war and who sent him the necessary documents.

In 1968 Wacław Felczak completed his habilitation on the Hungarian-Croatian equalization and was now allowed to travel to Hungary. He was disappointed with this trip because he found his friends there, including former fellow students from the Eötvös Collegium , to be apolitical and they avoided discussions about the 1956 Hungarian uprising . After a visit in 1965, he therefore decided never to travel to Hungary again, but did not stick to his resolution. From the 1970s he gave lectures in Hungary; Among the students was the later Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán .

On his 70th birthday in 1986, his students gave Felczak the joint Hungaro-Polonica plant as a gift. Wacław Felczak was nominated for a professorship by the University of Cracow twice, but to no avail. He only received this professorship after the country was democratized in 1993, one month before his death. Felczak was buried in the Old Cemetery of Honor in Zakopane , in a grave with his sister Anna, who had died four years earlier. The route of the Tatra couriers ran nearby, and others are buried in this cemetery. During Felczak's funeral, his former comrade Stanisław Marusarz suffered a heart attack and died.

Honors and memories

Memorial plaque for Wacław Felczak at the Collegium Witkowski of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow

Wacław Felczak was honored as a knight of the Virtuti Militari order and twice with the Polish Cross of Valor. Posthumously he became the commander of the Polonia Restituta order .

In 2016, on the occasion of Felczak's 100th birthday, the conference “Europa Centralis - history of the region throughout the ages” took place at the University of Krakow. The keynote speaker was Viktor Orbán, who pointed out Felczak's services to Polish-Hungarian relations and that Felczak had suggested the establishment of the democratic Fidesz party through him, László Kövér and János Áder . Felczak was an honorary member of this party.

In 2018 the Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute (Wacław Felczak Alapítvány) was founded to maintain relations between Hungary and Poland.

The Polish Historical Society in Kraków and the Faculty of History of the Jagiellonian University award historians the Wacław Felczak – Henryk Wereszycki – Prize annually .

The road bike race Carpathian Couriers Race received the addition in memory of Wacław Felczak in 2020 .

Works (selection)

  • Węgierska polityka narodowościowa przed wybuchem powstania 1848 roku (=  Prace Komisji Nauk Historycznych . No. 9 ). Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1964 (Polish).
  • Historia Węgier . Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1966 (Polish).
  • Ugoda wegiersko-chorwacka 1868 roku . Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1969 (Polish).
  • Polska - Węgry, tysiąc lat przyjaźni . Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1979 (Polish).
  • Historia Jugosławii . Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1985 (Polish).
  • Europa Centralis . Avalon, Kraków 2013 (Polish). (posthumously)

literature

  • Wojciech Frazik: Emisariusz Wolnej Polski. Biografia polityczna Wacława Felczaka (1916–1993) . Attyka, Kraków 2013, ISBN 978-83-62139-67-5 (Polish).
  • Wojciech Frazik: Wacław Felczak - A szabadság futára . Kiadó, 2019, ISBN 978-6-15547538-2 (Hungarian).

Web links

Commons : Wacław Felczak  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PAUza Akademicka Tygodnik Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, Wacław Felczak - bohaterstwo i polityka w życiu historyka , October 6, 2011, p. 3 Online (PDF)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Wojciech Frazik: Pamięci Wacława Felczaka. Carpathian Couriers Race, accessed August 31, 2020 (Polish).
  3. ^ A b Wacław Felczak Alapítvány. In: wfa.hu. Retrieved September 3, 2020 (Polish).
  4. ↑ a b c d Who was Wacław Felczak? In: visegradpost.com. July 20, 2020, accessed on August 31, 2020 .
  5. ^ Wiadomości - Uniwersytet Jagielloński. In: uj.edu.pl. Retrieved September 3, 2020 (pl_PL).
  6. ^ Wacław Felczak's resting place in Pęksowy Brzyzek Cemetery - Instytut im. Felczaka. In: stary.kurier.plus. June 8, 2013, accessed September 3, 2020 .
  7. ↑ István Kovács: István KOVÁCS: Polak, który zainspirował Viktora Orbána. In: wszystkoconajwazniejsze.pl. August 21, 2019, accessed September 3, 2020 (Polish).
  8. ↑ Dlaczego Orbán, premier Węgier, przyjechał do Krakowa? In: plus.gazetakrakowska.pl. December 13, 2016, accessed September 3, 2020 (Polish).
  9. ↑ About Hungary - Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's speech at the memorial conference “Europa Centralis - history of the region throughout the ages” ,. In: abouthungary.hu. December 19, 2016, accessed September 3, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Professor Wacław Felczak - Instytut im. Felczaka. In: kurier.plus. February 8, 2018, accessed August 31, 2020 .
  11. ^ Wacław Felczak Institute of Polish-Hungarian Cooperation - the government has made a decision. In: sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved September 3, 2020 (Polish).
  12. ↑ Prof. Dr. Maciej Górny received the honorary award in the 18th edition of the Wacław Felczak Henryk Wereszycki Prize. In: dhi.waw.pl. January 3, 2019, accessed September 3, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Felczak, Waclaw
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Felczak, Jan (actual name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Golbice
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1993
Place of death Warsaw