Janusz Piekałkiewicz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Janusz Piekałkiewicz (* 1925 in Warsaw ; † March 9, 1988 ) was a Polish historian , writer , director and producer .

Life

During the Second World War , Piekałkiewicz became a 17-year-old member of the Polish Home Army . One of the leaders of the Polish resistance against the German occupiers was his uncle Professor Jan Piekałkiewicz (* 1892), who was murdered by the Gestapo in 1943 . Janusz Piekałkiewicz took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and spent the rest of the war in the “ labor education camp ” in Großbeeren near Berlin .

After the liberation he returned to Poland, graduated from high school in 1946, attended the film academy in Łódź from 1948 and then studied contemporary history. He also worked as a mountain guide in the High Tatras . In 1956 he took part in the Hungarian popular uprising and then emigrated to Austria , where he first worked as a road worker and later as a radio reporter (from 1957 head of the Polish editorial office of Radio Free Europe ) before turning to writing and television. Among other things, he worked in Paris , London and the Federal Republic of Germany .

Act

Piekałkiewicz was a recognized expert in war history. The focus of his work was during World War II and the world of secret services. He has also written books about the treasure hunt .

A special feature of many of his books is that in the respective chapters various contemporary sources (both sides and also from neutral countries) are quoted without comment before Piekałkiewicz describes the events again in the second part of the chapter in his own words. According to Sebastian Haffner, he depicts “the actual events ... from day to day with the greatest accuracy, as they can be proven to have happened. In doing so, he makes use of the greatest possible objectivity and impartiality ”.

Władysław Bartoszewski calls all of Janusz Piekałkiewicz's books on contemporary history “exemplary in their objectivity” and emphasizes that “as an author of contemporary history books, he strived for fairness and justice with great success”.

But there are also examples of criticism that Piekałkiewicz would have been too accommodating to his German readers. The Dutch historian Bas von Benda-Beckmann sees Piekałkiewicz's book Air War 1939–1945 the blunt accusation that the British government was responsible for the bombing of the Air Force in England. The historian Thomas Kubetzky calls Piekałkiewicz 'work Rommel and the secret services in North Africa 1941-1943 as an example of the predominant studies between 1950 and the mid-1970s, "whose authors revered Rommel and praised the achievements of his troops" or purely military aspects of the war in Africa and the person Rommel treated.

Piekałkiewicz's books were initially all published in German ; it was not until shortly after his death that the rule of the Communist Party collapsed in Poland that many of his works were also published in Polish in his homeland. Many of his books were also published in English.

Documentaries and series

At the 1964 Berlinale , Janusz Piekałkiewicz presented his documentary Polish Passion , which was nominated for the Golden Bear , in a competition .

Piekałkiewicz's 26-part television series Spies, Agents, Soldiers - Secret Commands in World War II was held in 1969 on the IX. International Television Festival of Monte Carlo awarded first prize, the Golden Nymph . In their assessment, the jury particularly emphasized the unusual fairness and objectivity in addition to the high artistic quality . A book was also published under the same title (see below).

His other television documentaries include Israel's Long Arm - the history, successes and failures of Israeli intelligence, and Her Majesty's spies - the glory and decline of British intelligence .

Books by Janusz Piekałkiewicz

Books on war history

  • The Ju 52 in World War II (= picture report World War II. 1). Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-422-0 .
  • The 8.8 Flak in action on the ground (= picture report World War II. 2). Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-423-9 .
  • Horse and rider in World War II. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-517-00548-7 .
  • The VW Kübelwagen Type 82 in World War II (= picture report World War II. 3). Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-468-9 .
  • The BMW Kräder R12 / R75 in World War II (= picture report World War II. 4). Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-446-8 .
  • Fieseler Fi 156 Storch in the Second World War (= picture report World War II. 5). Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-445-X .
  • Stalingrad. Anatomy of a battle. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-517-00634-3 .
  • Air war. 1939-1945. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-517-00605-X .
  • Switzerland 39–45 . War in a neutral country. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-510-3 (Later editions as: Switzerland on the edge of the war. ).
  • The Deutsche Reichsbahn in World War II. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-412-3 .
  • Invasion. France 1944. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-517-00670-X .
  • The Battle of Monte Cassino. Twenty peoples are fighting over a mountain. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1980, ISBN 3-7857-0264-7 (Also called: The Battle of Monte Cassino. ).
  • Naval warfare. 1939-1945. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-517-00703-X .
  • War of the tanks. 1939-1945. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-517-00753-6 .
  • The battle for Moscow. The frozen offensive. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1981, ISBN 3-7857-0290-6 .
  • Polish campaign. Hitler and Stalin smash the Polish Republic. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-7857-0326-0 .
  • Company Citadel. Kursk and Orel: The biggest tank battle of World War II. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1983, ISBN 3-7857-0358-9 .
  • War in the Balkans. 1940-1945. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-517-00790-0 .
  • Rommel and the Secret Services in North Africa 1941–1943. Herbig, Munich et al. 1984, ISBN 3-7766-1308-4 .
  • The desert war in Africa. 1940-1943. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-517-00873-7 .
  • The second World War. With a foreword by Sebastian Haffner . Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1985, ISBN 3-430-17479-1 .
  • Destination Paris. The western campaign in 1940. Herbig, Munich et al. 1986, ISBN 3-7766-1401-3 .
  • The First World War. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1988, ISBN 3-430-17481-3 .
  • Battle for Warsaw. Stalin's betrayal of the Polish Home Army in 1944. With a foreword by Władysław Bartoszewski . Herbig, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7766-1699-7 .
  • Arnhem 1944. The largest airborne operation. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0278-2 .
  • The old aunt and the stork. Photo report Ju 52 and Fi 156. Motobuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02695-3 .

Books on the history of the secret services

  • Spies, agents, soldiers. Secret commands in World War II. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1969.
  • World history of espionage. Agents - Systems - Actions. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-517-00849-4 .
  • Israel's long arm. History of the Israeli intelligence services and commando companies. Goverts Verlag im S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt (Main) 1975, ISBN 3-774-00457-9 .

Books on other subjects

  • There is gold. Treasures of the millions that can still be found. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1971, ISBN 3-517-00323-9 (later as: There is gold. Hidden treasures all over the world. ).
  • Buccaneers. The colorful wild life of the Buccaneers in the Caribbean Sea. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-517-00424-3 .
  • Treasure hunters still have chances. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1975, ISBN 3-7857-0155-1 .
  • with Richard Breyer and Peter E. Nasarski: Neighbors for a thousand years. Germans and Poles in pictures and documents. von Hase and Koehler, Mainz 1976, ISBN 3-7758-0893-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maria Prosińska-Jackl (ed.): Słownik historyków polskich . Wiedza Powszechna, Warsaw 1994, ISBN 83-214-1051-0 , p. 401 .
  2. ↑ Janusz Piekałkiewicz o II wojnie światowej ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / lotniczapolska.pl
  3. ↑ Maria Prosińska-Jackl (ed.): Słownik historyków polskich . Wiedza Powszechna, Warsaw 1994, ISBN 83-214-1051-0 , p. 401 .
  4. ↑ Sebastian Haffner : Foreword. In: Janusz Piekałkiewicz: The Second World War. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1985, ISBN 3-430-17479-1 .
  5. ^ Władysław Bartoszewski : Foreword. In: Janusz Piekałkiewicz: Battle for Warsaw. Stalin's betrayal of the Polish Home Army in 1944. Herbig, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7766-1699-7 .
  6. ^ Bastiaan Robert von Benda-Beckmann: A German Catastrophe? German Historians and the Allied Bombings, 1945–2010. Vossiuspers, Amsterdam 2010, ISBN 978-90-5629-653-7 , p. 173, (also: Amsterdam, University, dissertation, 2010).
  7. ↑ Thomas Kubetzky: "The mask of command". Bernard L. Montgomery, George S. Patton and Erwin Rommel in the war reports of the Second World War, 1941–1944 / 45 (= history. Vol. 92). Lit, Berlin et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10349-9 , pp. 15-16.
  8. ^ Polish Passion in the Internet Movie Database
  9. ^ Władysław Bartoszewski: Foreword. In: Janusz Piekałkiewicz: Battle for Warsaw. Stalin's betrayal of the Polish Home Army in 1944. Herbig, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7766-1699-7 .
  10. ↑ THIS WEEK ON TV . In: Der Spiegel . No. 8 1973 ( online - Feb. 19, 1973 ).
  11. ↑ THIS WEEK ON TV . In: Der Spiegel . No. 53 , 1974 ( online - 30 December 1974 ).
personal data
SURNAME Piekałkiewicz, Janusz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1988