World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Karol Cyryl Modzelewski

カロル・チリル・モジェレフスキ

Karol Cyryl Modzelewski

Aliases: キリル・ブドネヴィチ (Kirill Budnevich)

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1937-11-23 （Moscow, Soviet Union）
Died
2019-04-28 （Warsaw, Poland） age 81
Nationality
Polish
Languages
Polish, Russian
Residence History
Moscow (birth) → Wrocław (university professor) → Warsaw (career and death)

Career

Occupations
historian, writer, politician, academic
Active Years
1960-2019
Affiliations
University of Wrocław (professor), University of Warsaw (professor)
Memberships
Polish United Workers' Party (member; expelled 1964)
Influenced By
Jacek Kuroń, Marxism and democratic social movements
Influenced
The Solidarity movement and Polish democratic opposition, Subsequent Polish historians and political activists

Awards

Order of the White Eagle
1998
Organization: Republic of Poland (President)
Result: 受賞
Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science
2007
Work: Barbarian Europe (Barbarzyńska Europa)
Organization: Foundation for Polish Science
Result: 受賞
Nike Award
2014
Work: We'll Ride the Mare of History to the Ground: Confessions of a Bruised Rider
Organization: Nike Literary Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Legion of Honour
2016
Organization: French Republic
Result: 受賞
Kazimierz Moczarski History Award
2014
Work: We'll Ride the Mare of History to the Ground
Organization: Kazimierz Moczarski Foundation
Result: 受賞
Józef Tischner Award
2014
Work: We'll Ride the Mare of History to the Ground
Organization: Józef Tischner Award Committee
Result: 受賞
Honorary degree (Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz)
2009
Organization: Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz
Result: 授与
Honorary citizen of Wrocław
2016
Organization: City of Wrocław
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

We'll Ride the Mare of History to the Ground: Confessions of a Bruised Rider

2013 Autobiography / Memoir

An autobiographical account of Modzelewski's political activism, imprisonment, and dissident thought, linking personal destiny with Poland's modern history.

dissentimprisonment and repressionmemory and history

Barbarian Europe

2004 History / Cultural history

Scholarly work discussing the origins of Europe and the importance of pre-Christian and multicultural traditions in forming European identity.

European historycultural identitypre-modern studies

Scènes de grèves en Pologne

2006 Essays / Reports

A collection of essays depicting strikes and labor movements in Poland.

labor movementsstrikespolitics

Economic Organization of the Piast State (10th–13th centuries)

1975 History / Economic history

A specialist study on the economic organization of the Piast dynasty period, analyzing medieval Poland's socio-economic structures.

medieval historyeconomic historysocial structures

Bibliography

  • Zajeździmy kobyłę historii. Wyznania poobijanego jeźdźca (2013)
  • Scènes de grèves en Pologne (2006)
  • Barbarzyńska Europa (2004)
  • Życiodajny impuls chuligaństwa. Notatki z lat 1993–2002 (2003)
  • Organizacja gospodarcza państwa piastowskiego X–XIII wiek (1975, revised 2000)
  • Między umową a wojną (1989)
  • Chłopi w społeczeństwie polskim (Peasants in Polish Society) (1987)
  • List otwarty do partii (Open Letter to the Party) (co-written, 1966)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly and analytical prosefrank, retrospective voice in autobiographical work
Recurring Motifs
power and dissenthistory and personal fateEuropean identitysocial structure and change

Legacy

Karol Modzelewski was a historian and thinker who bridged Poland's dissident movement and academia, significantly influencing the Solidarity movement and Poland's democratization. His research contributed to European cultural history and medieval studies and earned him numerous honors.

Archives

  • University of Warsaw archives (possible holdings)
  • University of Wrocław archives (possible holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • Frequently cited in accounts and memoirs about the Solidarity movement

Trivia

  • Born as Kirill Budnevich.
  • Co-wrote the 'Open Letter to the Party' with Jacek Kuroń and was imprisoned for it.
  • One of the leading figures of the Polish democratic opposition from the 1960s to the 1980s.
  • Won the Nike Award in 2014 for his autobiography.