Wirtschadftsgeschichte in Polen. Forschungsstand

Abstract

Abstract: Polish economic history. State of the art The study presents the development of research in the field of Polish economic history as well as the most important research centers. Polish economic historiography began at the beginning of the 20th century and improved in the period between the wars thanks to two prominent scholars, Franciszek Bujak (Lviv) and Jan Rutkowki (Poz-nan). They established the methodological and institutional foundations for the modern economic historiography. In the period of the Polish People’s Republic, economic historiography was in a difficult position due to political and ideological reasons. At the same time, a strong increase of interest in social-economic aspects was observed. In the 1960s Polish economic historiography linked itself to the world historiography; collaboration with the ”Annales” school was especial-ly important. The flourishing period of the Polish historiography lasted until the 1980s. Nowadays, it is fragmented and divided into a number of different institutes. Many historians left the economic history field in favour of social-cultural issues. Strict historical-econo-mic publications mostly concern the 19th and 20th century. Studies on the economy of the Middle Ages and early modern times, which built the core of the polish economic historiography in the second half of the 20th century, are rare. Participation of Polish historians at international congresses of economic history is also low. The yearly conferences with the name ”Wroclaw meeting with economic history” and the Polish Association of Economic History should lead to an improvement of the situation.