Działania prof. Karola Estreichera jr. dla kształcenia młodzieży we Wrocławiu w latach 1951–1961 i rewindykacji dziedzictwa kultury Ziem Zachodnich i Północnych Polski

Abstract

Efforts of prof. Karol Estreicher jr. to educate youth in Wrocław in the years 1951–1961 and to revindicate the cultural heritage of the Western and Northern Lands of Poland

Professor Karol Rafał Estreicher Jr (1906–1984) was one of the most eminent Polish art historians. As a secretary of general Władysław Sikorski in Angers and London he found and rescued many Polish national treasures stolen during the war. He continued his search and hunting for the lost heritage after the war and in the years 1945–1948 he carried out eight revindication procedures in Germany (bringing back to Krakow, among others, the Altar of St. Mary by Veit Stoss and the Lady with the Ermine by Leonardo), renovated the Collegium Maius – the oldest preserved building of the Jagiellonian University (where he organized a museum); he also continued publishing Polish Bibliographies, a project undertaken by his grandfather. He was a professor at the Jagiellonian University (1948-1984) and the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Wrocław (where he taught art history in the years 1951–1961). Although connected strongly with Krakow, Estreicher Jr was very pleased with his cooperation with Wrocław. He was acquainted with Eugeniusz Geppert, a rector of SHSFA and Stanisław Dawski and his wife Maria, both professors at the school. He used to arrive in Wrocław by train for three days and lectured there in the auditorium for students. In his Diary (Volumes I–VII, Kraków 2001–2013) he looked back on his work in Wrocław with great sentiment, shedding light on many interesting and forgotten events.