Szymon Askenazy


Szymon Askenazy was a Jewish-Polish historian, educator, statesman and diplomat, founder of the Askenazy school.
He was the first Polish representative at the League of Nations. His work as a historian was influential in defining the creation and history of the Polish nation.

Biography

Persuaded by his father, Askenazy studied law at the Imperial University of Warsaw in the 1880s. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer; however, all the spare time he devoted to reading books in various languages. In April 1893, he went to Göttingento study history. He was influenced by the professor of medieval and modern history Max Lehmann under whose supervision he wrote doctoral dissertation Die letzte Polnische Koenigswahl.
Commencing in 1902, he served as a professor at the University of Lwów till November 1919. In 1909 he was inducted into the Polish Academy of Learning. One of his main books "Gdańsk a Polska" was published in 1919 and translated into English, French and German. Askenazy planned to join Warsaw University, however on his way there stood Bronisław Dembiński and Marceli Handelsman, who blocked his nomination to become a professor of this university. Famous Poles supported Askenazy: Stefan Żeromski, Zofia Nałkowska, Karol Szymanowski, Leopold Staff, Andrzej Strug, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Antoni Słonimski, Wacław Sieroszewski who signed an appeal for a place for Askenazy at Warsaw University, however in vain.
After Poland regained independence, Askenazy was chosen to be the first Polish representative at the League of Nations. His candidacy for this post was supported by Józef Piłsudskiand nomination was signed by the Foreign Minister of Poland, Eustachy Sapiehain May 1920. He cooperated later with other Polish Foreign Ministers: Konstanty Skirmunt, Gabriel Narutowiczand Aleksander Skrzyński. In May 1923, Marian Seyda from, the Popular National Union became the Foreign Minister of Poland after Lanckorona Pact agreement was introduced. Askenazy saw this as a sign to step down. He resigned from the post and in July 1923 came back to Poland. Askenazy never joined any political party.
In his studies, he focused chiefly on Poland's political and economic history in the 18th and 19th centuries. He thus laid the foundations for the Lwów-Warsaw School of History. He was the first historian to emphasize the Partitions period as crucially important to the creation of the modern Polish nation.
Askenazy's idea of describing a nation's history through its social and economic development, as well as its international and diplomatic backdrop, remains influential in modern Polish historical studies.
William J. Rose, an English translator of Askenazy's book "Danzig & Poland", wrote in the obituary published in The Slavonic and East European Review that with the death of Professor Askenazy "Polish learning lost one of its most distinguished ornaments".
, Warsaw

Works