New Research on the Rakowski Diaries

Ewa Syska and Anna Idzikowska-Czubaj, two doctoral students from the Institute of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, have just completed  research on one of Hoover Archives’ premier East European collections, the Mieczysław F. Rakowski Papers, and more specifically on Rakowski’s voluminous “political diaries,” detailing nearly four decades (1958−96) of his career in Communist Poland and life in the first years after its demise in 1989. Hoover's Curator for European Collections Maciej Siekierski commented, "Both scholars left Stanford amazed at the volume and comprehensive wealth of Hoover Institution’s Polish collections. They are firm believers that critical analysis of historical sources brings tangible research results." The photo above features Mieczysław Rakowski and Czesław Kiszczak, circa 1987.