Listy Ananiasza Zajączkowskiego do Jego Ekscelencji Hadży Seraji Chana Szapszała

Abstract

The collection of letters written by Professor Ananiasz Zajączkowski (1903–1970), an eminent Turcologist and Iranist, to Hajji Seraya Khan Shapshal (1873–1961) is stored in the Archive of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (in the so called Biblioteka Wróblewskich) in Vilnius and is of great value for both history of Oriental studies (Turcology in articular) and for the members of the Karaim communities in Lithuania and Poland. The letters were written in the years 1928–1948. Unfortunately, the letters addressed by Shapshal (also a recognized Orientalist) to Zajączkowski burned down in the latter’s apartment destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. On the base of facts described by Ananiasz Zajączkowski in his letters, one can follow his scientific biography, e.g. his efforts in organizing the Chair in Turcology and the Institute for Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw and his editorial activities concerning the journal “Myśl Karaimska”. One learns a lot about Karaims living in Warsaw at that time and their social and political position in the Republic of Poland. Some echoes of Zajączkowski’s family life are also present in these letters.