Jan Wasilkowski

Jan Wasilkowski
Born(1898-05-11)11 May 1898
Sławków, Congress Poland
Died14 July 1977(1977-07-14) (aged 79)
Warsaw, Poland
OccupationsJurist, judge, politician

Jan Wasilkowski (11 May 1898 – 14 July 1977) was a Polish jurist, judge and politician.

Biography

He was the son of Czesław and Aleksandra. In 1918 he started studying law in Vienna and after one year he moved to Kraków. During his studies, he took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War as an artillery second lieutenant. In 1923 he obtained doctorate in law from the Jagiellonian University. In 1924 he obtained doctorate in law from the University in Nancy. In July 1924 he started work as an assistant at the University of Warsaw, working under Karol Lutostański [pl]. In 1929 he obtained habilitation. In the years 1926–1932, he was an editorial secretary of the journal Themis Polska. From 1933 he was a member of the Codification Commission [pl].

In 1939, he was mobilized into the army and fought in the September Campaign in an artillery unit, initially on the Narew river, later in the defense of Warsaw. He was wounded, sent to Ujazdowski Hospital and taken prisoner. He was then deported to Third Reich and spent the rest of the war in POW camps. During his time in Nazi captivity in Oflag VI B, Dössel, he co-organized law courses for POWs. He came back to Poland in 1946.

From 1946 to 1948 he was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. In 1948 he joined the Polish United Worker's Party (PZPR) and remained its member until his death in 1977. He was a member of the University Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party at the University of Warsaw.

He was dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Warsaw from 1947 to 1949 and rector of the University of Warsaw from 1949 to 1952 He consistently used dialectical and historical materialism as a research method. In 1948 he became a judge of the Supreme Court. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1964 to 1969. Earlier, from 1959 to 1964 he was deputy member of the Central Committee. In 1952 he was elected a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 1956 to 1967 he was the First President of the Supreme Court. In the years 1947–1956 he headed the Department of Civil Law at the University of Warsaw. From 1953 to 1956 he was director of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences [pl]. He was a member of the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1957–1968 and secretary of the Department I of Social Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1955–1957.

After retiring, he chaired the Codification Commission at the Ministry of Justice from 1956 to 1968. He was a co-author of the draft Civil Code of Poland [pl], adopted in 1964. From 1961 to 1973, he was a member of Sejm. He was Chairman of the Justice Committee of Sejm. He was delegate to the 3rd and 4th Congresses of the Polish United Workers' Party.

He was married to Zofia Wasilkowska, their son was Andrzej Wasilkowski [pl].

Works

Honors and awards

Commemoration

In 1979 a street in the Ursynów district in Warsaw was named after him.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wasilkowski Jan". bs.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Dane osoby z katalogu kierowniczych stanowisk partyjnych i państwowych PRL". katalog.bip.ipn.gov.pl. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Jan Wasilkowski (1949–1952)". uw.edu.pl. Archived from the original on 28 April 2026. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dolata, Tomasz (2023). "Początki kariery naukowej profesora Jana Wasilkowskiego" (PDF). Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis. Wrocław: 131–141. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2026. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jan Wasilkowski". slawkow.pl. Archived from the original on 27 March 2025. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  6. ↑ Falkowska, W. (1961). "„…nic niezwykłego nie było w moim życiu"". Prawo i Życie (7).
  7. ↑ "Tradycja prawa. Rozmowa z profesor Katarzyną Sójką-Zielińską; Kierownikiem Katedry Powszechnej Historii Państwa i Prawa WPiA Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego". Edukacja Prawnicza. 2 (38): 20. 2001.
  8. ↑ Rutkowski, Tadeusz (2016). "Na styku nauki i polityki. Uniwersytet Warszawski w PRL 1944–1989". In Piotr M. Majewski (ed.). Dzieje Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego po 1945. Warsaw. p. 418.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. 1 2 3 "Poczet Dyrektorów Instytutu Nauk Prawnych PAN". inp.pan.pl. Archived from the original on 8 February 2026. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Wasilkowski, Jan". pan.pl. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  11. ↑ Menkes, Jerzy. "Wspomnienie o prof. Andrzeju Wasilkowskim". przegladpm.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  12. ↑ "M.P. 1947 nr 29 poz. 280". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  13. ↑ "M.P. 1952 nr 52 poz. 701". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "M.P. 1954 nr 112 poz. 1566". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "M.P. 1955 nr 112 poz. 1450". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  16. ↑ "Wręczenie odznaczeń w Belwederze". Nowiny (170): 2. 20 July 1964.
  17. ↑ Nowiny. 165 (8951): 2. 22 July 1977.
  18. ↑ Handke, Kwiryna (1998). Słownik nazewnictwa Warszawy. Warsaw: Slawistyczny Ośrodek Wydawniczy. p. 353. ISBN 83-86619-97X.

Bibliography