Jerzy Turonek

Turonek at the Warsaw Collegium Civitas at the age of 81, June 2010

Dr. Jerzy Turonek (Belarusian: Юры Туронак,^[1] Jury Turonak, born April 26, 1929) is a Polish-Belarusian historian and notable member of the Belarusian minority in Poland. He was born in Dukszty into the family of a notable West Belarusian political activist Bronisław Turonek in the Second Polish Republic's Wilno Voivodeship.

After World War II he graduated from the Higher School for Planning and Statistics in Warsaw in 1952, and later worked for the Polish foreign trade chamber where he was analysing the international chemicals market and worked at the European economic commission in Geneva.

In early 1960s Jerzy Turonek began his active historical researches into the Belarusian national movement of the early 20th century, Polish-Belarusian relations in the 20th century, and the history of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1986 he became Doctor of History. Turonek is the author of monograph Białoruś pod okupacją niemiecką (Belarus under the German occupation) published in 1993 by Książka i Wiedza.^[2] The copies of his monograph shipped to Belarus for distribution were confiscated by the Belarussian security service KDB.^[3]

Works

• Białoruś pod okupacją niemiecką (Belarus under German occupation, Warsaw, 1993),
• Wacław Iwanowski i odrodzenie Białorusi (Vacłaŭ Ivanoŭski and the renaissance of Belarus, Warsaw, 1992),
• Książka białoruska w II Rzeczypospolitej 1921-1939 (Belarusian book publishing in the Second Polish Republic, Warsaw, 2000),
• Беларуская кніга пад нямецкім кантролем (1939-1944) (Belarusian book publishing under German control in 1939-1944, Minsk, 2002).
• Людзі СБМ (People GMS, Belarusian Youth Union)^[4]

References