Leon Kozłowski (1892-1944) – krakowski etap życia naukowca, żołnierza, polityka

Leon Kozłowski (1892-1944), the outstanding prehistorian, soldier, and politician, was connected with Kraków from the beginning of his studies until he obtained his postdoctoral degree. He studied natural sciences and then archaeology at the Jagiellonian University while being also an unofficial assistant at the Archaeological Museum of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków. The Academy appointed him to explore Lusatian cemeteries near Tarnobrzeg, to excavate a Palaeolithic site in Jaksice (former Miechów district), megalithic graves in Kuyavia, and the Mammoth Cave in the Polish Jura. He collected materials for the Academy during a scientific expedition to the Crimea and the Caucasus organized by Robert Rudolf Schmidt (1882-1950) from the University of Tübingen. During the First World War, Kozłowski joined the Polish Legions and was thus involved in the struggle for Polish independence. He moved to Warsaw to write his doctoral thesis based on the collection of the Erazm Majewski Museum and then defended it in Tübingen. After he gained his postdoctoral degree in Kraków, he took the chair of prehistory in Lwów/Lviv and his contacts with the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków came to a close. It was only in 1935 that he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy.