Antoni Czacharowski

ICHT Member (Poland), 1978- 2008

ICHT Honorary Member 2008-2015

Toruñ 1930 – Toruñ 2015

 

Prof. Antoni Czacharowski, a longtime member of our Commission, died on April 1, 2015. He was born on June 11, 1931 in a village near Toruñ, Czarne B³ota, in the family of a farmer. All his entire private and professional life was connected with Toruñ. After the Matura exam in 1951, Antoni Czacharowski enrolled at the Nicolaus Copernicus University, where he studied history. His excellent knowledge of German allowed him to develop his interests in the histo-ry of Pomerania and the state of the Teutonic Order. As a participant of the seminar of Prof. dr Bronis³aw W³odarski, Antoni Czacharowski prepared the thesis about the war of domi-nance of Poland over Lêbork (Leuenburg) and Bytów (Bütow) land between 1454–1526. Af-ter graduation in 1955, Antoni Czacharowski was employed at the NCU, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.

His research interests focused primarily on history of ecclesiastical corporations and of knighthood in the Middle Ages. In 1960 Czacharowski received his PhD title based on the thesis about the convent of the Premonstratensians in ¯ukowo (Zuckau). Seven years later he earned his habilitation with his book on social and political parties in the struggle for the Neumark between 1313–1373. In 1977 Antoni Czacharowski was appointed to the position of Professor of Medieval History.
Since 1979 he headed the Department of Medieval History. At Nikolaus Kopernicus Universi-ty Czacharowski held various administrative functions, inter alia the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in 1978-1981 and Vice-Rector in 1982-1984. After his habilitation, Antoni Czacharowski became more interested in urban history. His first publications in this research area were devoted to the social structure and topography of medieval Toruñ (Thorn). Czacharowski was particularly interested in the cities of the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia as well as in Polish cities in the Middle Ages. His scientific oeuvre encompasses more than 120 publications. In 1978 he was elected a member of the International Commission for the History of Towns, at meetings which he always actively participated as a speaker and discussant for over twenty years. In the early 1990s, Antoni Czacharowski and his students started the preparatory work on the realization of the the Commission’s Atlas project in Po-land. The first issue of the “Historical Atlas of Polish Cities” was published in 1993 under Czacharowski’s editorship; the project was then carried on until 2002. In 2002 Antoni Czacharowski co-organized the Conference of the Commission in Toruñ. Disease that has seriously affected him shortly after retirement hampered his further research work and par-ticipation in the conferences of our Commission. He remains in our memories as an excellent scholar, committed academic teacher and good friend.

Roman Czaja