[Drzewieniecki 1 Picture] [Drzewieniecki 2 Picture]

Walter Drzewieniecki as a young officer trainee in 1937 and with Krystyna, his second wife, in 1998.

Wlodzimierz (Walter) Marian Drzewieniecki

Historian, author

Born Dec. 14, 1914, Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland; came to U.S., 1950; son of Edward and Zuzanna (Baranowska); child: Joanna.

Education: diploma, Military College, Ostrow Mazowiecka (Poland), 1937; British Army Staff College, Haifa (Palestine). 1943; Bachelor of Science (B.S.), University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, 1957; Master of Arts (M.A.), 1958, Ph.D., 1963, University of Chicago (IL).

Career: assistant prof., State University of New York (SUNY), Oswego, 1959-63; associate prof., Slavic Studies Program, 1963-81, director, East European Institute, 1967-72, chairman, History Department, 1969-71, State University of New York (SUNY) College, Buffalo (NY); chairman, State University of New York (SUNY) Faculty Association for East European Studies, Albany (NY), 1970-73; director, Buffalo Ethnic Heritage Studies, 1980-81; prof. emeritus.

Author: The German Polish Frontier, 1959; Polonica Buffalonensis, 1976; Wrzesniowe wspomnienia podporucznika, 1978; Przez Balkany do Brygady Karpackiej, 1990; numerous articles in various languages; organizer, Polish exhibits, lectures and concerts in Buffalo.

Member of, i.a.: American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS); Polish Society of Arts and Sciences Abroad (United Kingdom); Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (P.I.A.S.A.); Pilsudski Institute of America; Kosciuszko Foundation; Polish University Abroad; Polish Army Veterans Association - Stowarzyszenie Weteranow Armii Polskiej (S.W.A.P.); Polish Cultural Foundation (president, 1965-71, 1975-91, vice president, 1971-75, Buffalo).

Honors, i.a.: Order of Virtuti Militari, Order of Polonia Restituta, Cross of Valor, Polish Government in Exile, London (United Kingdom); 125th Anniversary Award, University of Buffalo, 1971; 1st prize for wartime memoirs, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), 1976; Distinguished Alumnus award, University of Wisconsin, 1980.

Served with: Polish Army, Polish Underground Army - Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej (Z.W.Z.), Polish Army in the East, Carpathian Brigade, Polish 2nd Corps, General Staff, 1935-47.

Languages: Polish, English, French, Russian

Hobbies: memoirs

Home: 337 McKinIey Ave., Kenmore, NY 14217

From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 1996

Drzewieniecki, Wlodzimierz (Walter) Marian (pseudonyms - Mazur Jan, Wieniecki Marian, W,D., W.M.D.)

Born December 14, 1914 in Piotrkow Trybunalski; military serviceman, historian, socio-cultural activist. After finishing high school in Czestochowa he studied (1930-1935) with the Cadet Corps No. 2 in Chelmno in Pomorze [Baltic Shore Lands] and finished the School for Infantry Cadets (1937) in Ostrow Mazowiecki. During the September 1939 campaign he was with the 84 Regiment of Polesie rifles near Pinsk in Pomorze. After surrender he was in a prisoner of war camp in Dziadow. After release he returned to his family. In December 1940 he made his way through Slovakia, Hungary, and Turkey to reach Palestine and join the Karpaty Rifles Brigade where he finished his schooling and received rank as an officer. He took part in the fighting in Italy with the 2nd Corps. After the Polish Military Forces in the West were dissolved he was appointed as director of the Relocation Bureau for the Polish troops and was made a major with diploma. In 1947 he went to Canada and in 1950, after obtaining an American visa, to the United States. He settled first in Toledo, then in Chicago. He worked at International Industries. Then he moved to Stevens Point where from 1953 to 1957 he was the political editor for the weekly "Gwiazda Polarna" [Pole Star]. At the same time he enrolled at the University of Chicago (UC). There in 1959 he received his doctorate and was an assistant [professor] (1959) and a docent [?] (1959-63) at UC in Oswego. In 1963 he worked for the State University College (SUC) in Buffalo where in 1966 he was made an ordinary professor. He was the Dean of the History Department. His specialty was Polish-German relations and the influence of Marxism on the interpretation of history in post-war Poland. He wrote many books, brochures and hundreds of articles in the USA, Great Britain and Poland, among them: Wrzesniowe wspomnienia podporucznika [A Sub lieutenant's September memories] (1978), Przez Balkany do Brygady Karpackiej [Through the Balkans to the Karpaty Brigade] (1990), Angielski Szlif. Wspomnienie oficera sztabu 2. Korpusu [English Polish. Memoir of a 2nd Corps Staff Officer] (2001), Zapomniany Oddzial Wolynskiej Brygady Kawalerii - IV Battalion 84 psp [The forgotten division of the Wolyn Cavalry - IV Battalion 84 psp] (1973), Polonica Buffalonensis (1976, bibliography), Samodzielna Brygada Strzelcow Karpackich i 3-cia Dywizja Strzelcow Karpackich w literaturze i prasie [The Independent Brigade of Karpaty rifles and the 3rd Riflemen's Division in literature and the press] (1983, bibliography), The German-Polish Frontier (1959), James M. Rozan -- a Pioneer Polish-American Politician in Buffalo (1971); Public Library Service to American Ethnics:The Polish Community on the Niagara Frontier (1974), Poles in America -- Yesterday and Today (1980, 1981).

In 1965 he took over the leadership of the Polish-American Education Committee (from 1971 the Polish Cultural Foundation). In 1980 he formed the Ethnic Institute at SUC and during 1980-81 was its director. From 1948 he is a member of the Polish Independence Movement "Independence and Democracy" in London, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences (from 1960), the Pilsudski Institute in New York (from 1960), Polish-American Historical Association (from 1960); and The Polish Scientific Society Abroad (from 1975). He has received military decorations from Poland, Great Britain, Yugoslavia and Italy.

Sources: Archive of Emigration: Library, Copernicus University in Torun, W. M. Dzewiniecki archive; A. and Z. Judycki, Polonia slownik biograficzny [Polonia, a biographical directory] Warsaw 2000; A. and Z. Judycki, Polacy w swiecie [Poles around the world] "Kwartalnik Biograficzny Polonii" [Polonia Biographical Quarterly], Paris, 5, 1994; K. E. Semen, Sukces emigranta: Wlodzimierz M. Drzewiniecki i jego Fundacja, [Emigrant's success: Wlodzimierz M. Drzewiniecki and his Foundation] Torun, 2003.

Author: Miroslaw Supruniuk

Translated from: "Encyklopedia Polskiej Emigracji i Polonii," Edited by: Kazimierz Dopierala, Vol. I, Oficyna Wydawnicza Kucharski, Torun, Poland, 2003; by: Peter J. Obst (2007)