Gdańsk, Story of a City When Diplomatic History and Personal Narrative Intersect

Abstract

Abstract This article relates the contributions of Professor Anna M. Cienciala to the study of Polish diplomatic history, her influence on the discipline, and the relationship between her personal narrative and her professional career. It focuses on the theses of her books Poland and the Western Powers and Keys to Polish Foreign Policy as well as articles, chapters, and document collections she produced over her career, as related to the history of her birth city, Danzig/Gdańsk. The article considers Professor Cienciala’s long career as a teacher and her dedication to improving the political and scholarly understanding of the Second Republic. Professor Cienciala was greatly respected in American, British, and Polish circles, and her influence can be traced in foundational attitudes toward early twentieth- century Poland in the work of such diverse scholars as Jan Karski, Roger Moorhouse, and Marek Kornat. Her dedication to teaching about Poland extended past her retirement and lives on in lessons and lectures she compiled for distribution online in the early years of the Internet. Finally, the author fondly remembers Professor Cienciala’s own tales of her life in Danzig/Gdańsk and how her search for meaning in the experiences of her own past has left a profound legacy of scholarship and understanding for Polish studies.