American historian (born 1937)
Richard Conrad Lukas (born August 29, 1937) is an American historian and author of books and articles on military, diplomatic, Polish, and Polish-American history. He specializes in the history of Poland during World War II.
Before retiring from active teaching in 1995, he taught and did research at Tennessee Technological University, Wright State University, and the University of South Florida.
Lukas is best known for The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939–1944 (1986), a study of the wartime experience of the Polish people.
Early life and education
Lukas was born on August 29, 1937, in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Pelagia Lukaszewski (née Kapuscinski) and her husband, Franciszek Lukaszewski. After receiving a BA in 1957,[1] he worked as a research consultant, from 1957 to 1958, at the United States Air Force Historical Archives.[2][3] He was awarded an MA in 1960[1] and a PhD from Florida State University in 1963, for a thesis entitled "Air Force Aspects of American Aid to the Soviet Union: The Crucial Years 1941–1942".[4][5]
Publication history
As a graduate student, Lukas was a contributor to the project that resulted in the publication of Air Force Combat Units of World War II (1961).[7]
Eagles East
Lukas' first book, Eagles East: The Army Air Forces and the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 (1970), a military-diplomatic study based on his doctoral dissertation, earned him the national history award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.[3]
R. S. Hughes writing for the Military Affairs commended the book for its "extensive and detailed coverage of Allied-Soviet relations during World War II", and noted that it is particularly helpful for its discussion of the Lend-Lease program.[8] Raymond L. Garthoff reviewing the book for the Slavic Review wrote that it is a "useful study" and "recommended reading" for those interested in the political-military history of USA-USSR relations during World War II with regard to interactions between the U.S. Army Air Forces and the USSR.[9]
James J. Hudson in The American Historical Review called the book "an excellent example of military-diplomatic history".[10] Sam Frank, in his review for The Journal of American History, wrote that the book "reflects extensive research and effective writing. An excellent balance has been achieved between factual presentation and interpretation."[11]
The Strange Allies and Bitter Legacy
Lukas wrote two scholarly books on Allied wartime and postwar relations with Poland. His book, The Strange Allies: Poland and the United States, 1941-1945 (1978) studied in-depth the relationship between the United States and the Polish government-in-exile and highlighted the impact of American Polonia in United States-Polish relations.[12] The sequel to The Strange Allies was Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II (1982), which dealt with postwar Polish history and Polish-American relations, as well as the aid that was extended to Poland after World War II.[13] George J. Lerski reviewing the book for The American Historical Review called it an "important and well-documented study" featuring "impeccable research in primary and secondary sources".[14]
The Forgotten Holocaust
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944 (1986) is Lukas' most famous work and has been re-published in two subsequent editions (1997 and 2012, with a foreword by historian Norman Davies).[15][16][17] It focuses on the sufferings of ethnic Poles in German- and Soviet-occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945.[18]
Reviewers had differing views of the book.[19][20][21][18][22][23][15][24][25] Donald E. Pienkos published a review in the Slavic Review (1986) that he later described as "generally praising the book";[26] it was followed by a critical review by David Engel in the same venue describing Lukas' book as a one-sided rebuke of "Jewish historians" and detailing "distortion, misrepresentation, and inaccuracy" in the book.[19] An extensive correspondence followed among Lukas, Engel, and others in Slavic Review.[26] Michael R. Marrus wrote in The Washington Post that "Lukas tells this story with an outrage properly contained within the framework of a scholarly narrative" but criticized what he felt was an unjustified "sustained polemic against Jewish historians".[20] George Sanford noted in International Affairs that in tackling the subject of the suffering of ethnic Poles, Lukas's work is "strictly objective and academic in tone, presentation and content. But the underlying purpose is inevitably a polemical one, as he has to rake over the smouldering ashes of numerous sensitive controversies."[21]
Out of the Inferno
Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust (1989) is a volume edited by Lukas dealing with memoirs of Poles concerning the Holocaust. John Klier noted in his review in The Slavonic and East European Review that the book is "a useful contribution" to the literature about The Holocaust in Poland.[27] Jerzy Jan Lerski writing for The Polish Review called the book "timely", but noted it is the weakest of Lukas' books up to date, criticizing it as "uneven, poorly organized and [lacking] focus".[28] The book was also reviewed in German by Dieter Pohl for Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas [de].[29]
Did the Children Cry?
Karl A. Schleunes in his review of Lukas's book Did the Children Cry?: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939–45 (1994) for The American Historical Review noted that it deals with an under-researched topic, and is a valuable contribution to studies of Germanization and the Holocaust. Schleunes writes that "Lukas makes it a point... to stress 'the commonality of suffering of Jewish and Polish children', an effort in which he largely succeeds."[30] Barbara Tepa Lupack, in The Polish Review, wrote that "Lukas in the current volume provides a gripping portrait of the Nazis' systematic genocide plan for all of Poland as well as an excellent analysis of the relationship between Poland's Jewish and gentile communities".[31]
The book received the Janusz Korczak Literary Award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The biennial prize, awarded to books about children, was recommended by a panel of judges. The decision of the ADL’s own literary committee had been overrulled by the political leadership of the organization under Abraham Foxman, which decided to withdraw the prize ten days before the award ceremony but reinstated it when Lukas threatened to sue them. The ADL cancelled the award ceremony and mailed the $1000 US prize money to Lukas. According to the ADL, the book was "problematic in several ways" and "strongly understated the level of anti-Semitism in Poland. It also strongly overstated the number of people who rescued Jews."[17][32][33] ADL decision to withdraw the prize has been criticized by Danuta Mostwin [pl], member of the panel and founder of the award, Joseph Kutrzeba, Holocaust survivor and film director, Theresa K. Bunk of the Polish American Congress, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Union, and historian Victor S. Mamatey.[17][34] The event has been discussed in the context of anti-Polonism.[35]
Forgotten Survivors
Lukas' continuing interest in the Polish tragedy during World War II culminated in his final volume, the Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation (2004).[36] Isabel Wollaston in her review of the book for The Slavonic and East European Review noted that "if approached as a memorial volume and/or a collection of oral histories, this is a fascinating book", but due to methodological issues and containing mostly primary accounts, "it should be handled with care and needs to be supplemented and contextualized from other sources if it is to be used for scholarly purposes".[37]
