Remembering prof. Zygmunt Kraczkiewicz (1900-1971) and his pioneering research

Abstract

Zygmunt Kraczkiewicz (1900-1971) On October 11, 2021, at the Holly Cross Church in Warsaw, there was a Holly Mass dedicated to the memory of Professor Zygmunt Kraczkiewicz who passed away 50 years ago, in 1971. Zygmunt Kraczkiewicz was born July 20, 1900, in Biala in Ukraine. In 1928 he received his Ph.D. and in 1935 the doctor habilitatus (D.Sc.) degree at the Faculty of Philosophy of Warsaw University. From 1926 until 1939, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Cytology at Warsaw University. At the beginning of World War II, he was called to military duty. After the fall of Poland, he was interned in Romania until 1941, and from 1941 until 1945 he was held captive in Dorsten and Dossel German POW camps. In 1945, after the liberation by Americans and relocation to Belgium, he co-organized and lectured in the Polish Center of Academic Studies in Brussels. He returned to Poland in 1946. Prof. Kraczkiewicz joined, in the rank of associate professor, the re-opened Department of Zoological Cytology at Warsaw University in 1946. From 1951 to 1956, he was the Dean of Faculty of Biology and Natural Sciences, and from 1956 to 1965, he held the position of the Pro-Rector of Warsaw University. From 1955 until retirement in 1970, Prof. Kraczkiewicz was the Chair of the Department of Cytology Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw.