Occupation Historian Role Author Name Eugene Kusielewicz | Period 1954 - 1996 Nationality American Died December 10, 1996 | |
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Born October 12, 1930
Brooklyn, NY, USA ( 1930-10-12 ) Subject Polish-American History, Polish History | ||
Eugene Francis Vincent Kusielewicz (October 12, 1930 - December 10, 1996) was an American historian, author, educator, and a leading spokesperson on Polish and Polish-American affairs in the United States.
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Life and recognition
Born on October 12, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, Kusielewicz attended St. John's University (B.A., 1952) and Fordham University (M.A., 1954; Ph.D., 1963), where he studied under Oskar Halecki. Under Halecki's guidance, he wrote his Master's thesis on "Woodrow Wilson, Ignacy Paderewski, and the Rebirth of Poland." His doctoral dissertation was on "The Teschen Question at the Paris Peace Conference: A Re-examination in the Light of Materials in the Archives of the United States."
Kusielewicz began his teaching career in 1953 and worked at both public and private schools, before receiving a faculty appointment in the History Department at St. John's University in 1955. He taught at St. John's until his retirement and reached the rank of Associate Professor.
Aside from his teaching duties, Kusielewicz was involved in numerous Polish-American groups. He was President of the Polish American Historical Association from 1964-1966, and also editor of the organization's scholarly journal, Polish American Studies, from 1964-1968. He also spent two decades as an officer of the Kosciuszko Foundation, first as Assistant to the President (Stephen Mizwa) from 1963-1965, then Vice President (1965-1970), and then President (1970-1979). Kusielewicz also served as the editor of the Foundation's Monthly Newsletter, and had earlier written a weekly column for the Polish American World, a newspaper that he had helped to found. In later years, he contributed columns to the Polish-American Journal.
He received the Haiman Medal from the Polish American Historical Association for "outstanding contributions in the field of Polish American Studies," and received Distinguished Service awards from the Polish government as well as from local civic organizations. He was appointed as a Trustee of the Brooklyn Public Library, and was inducted in 1988 into the Knights of Malta.
Scholarship
Kusielewicz specialized in the rebirth of Poland at the end of World War I, and contributed numerous articles on aspects of that to both the Polish Review and Polish American Studies. He contributed book reviews to American Slavic and East European Review, Catholic Historical Review, Polish Review, Catholic Educator, Journal of Central European Affairs, East Europe, and Perspectives. He served as editor of Twayne Publishers' Library of Polish Studies, which brought several important works back into print and made others available to English readers. Kusielewicz was the writer and chief historical consultant for a series of seventeen half-hour films on Polish American life produced by Polish Television to celebrate the American Bicentennial.
Kusielewicz was also critical of the often negative ways that Poles and Polish Americans were portrayed in the media, which was a topic for a few of his essays and book chapters. He was also an outspoken defender of the Carmelite nuns whose convent at the Auschwitz death camp had provoked widespread controversy, appearing on both the CNBC program "McLaughlin" and the PBS show "John McLaughlin's One on One" to defend the nuns.
Publications
Books authored/edited by Kusielewicz: