He was born in 1865 in Zawichost on the Vistula into an Orthodox Jewish family engaged in trade. He grew up in an atmosphere of Polish patriotism. Askenazy graduated in law from the University of Warsaw and in history from the University of G\u00f6ttingen. After graduation, he settled in Lw\u00f3w (today\u2019s Lviv), where he worked at the university as a lecturer and head of the Department of Modern Polish History.<\/p>\n
He was interested in Polish history of the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, political issues and international relations. In his research, he often used diplomatic sources. He created a school of historical analysis called Askenazy\u2019s school. He was famous for his excellent memory and lecturing without using notes. Askenazy wanted to influence the political education of Poles. He opposed the ideas of the Krak\u00f3w historical school, which saw the cause of the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth mainly in the anachronistic political system.<\/p>\n
Szymon Askenazy was involved in activities aiming at the assimilation of Polish Jews. Together with Hipolit Wawelberg, he established a support fund for Jewish students and young scientists. He also researched the history of Jews in Poland and was one of the founders of “Kwartalnik Po\u015bwi\u0119cony Badaniu Przesz\u0142o\u015bci \u017byd\u00f3w w Polsce” (A quarterly Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past of Jews in Poland).<\/p>\n
After the outbreak of World War I, Askenazy went to Switzerland. He was a co-founder of the Aid Committee for War Victims in Poland. After Poland regained independence, he was the minister plenipotentiary to the League of Nations in Geneva. He also promoted Polish interests with his publications (he issued the famous book “Gdansk and Poland”, translated into English, French and German). Many eminent Polish historians were his followers, e.g. W\u0142adys\u0142aw Konopczy\u0144ski or Marian Kukiel.<\/p>\n
Szymon Askenazy is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Szymon Askenazy, an outstanding historian, creator of the school of Polish historiography, diplomat and promoter of Jewish assimilation, died on 22 June 1935. He was born in 1865 in Zawichost…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\n