Norman Davies | |
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 Davies in 2018 | |
| Born | Ivor Norman Richard Davies (1939-06-08)8 June 1939 (age 86) Bolton, Lancashire, England |
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| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Donny Davies (uncle) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Historian |
| Institutions | |
| Main interests | History of Poland |
Ivor Norman Richard DaviesCMG FBA FRHistS (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on thehistory of Europe,Poland and theUnited Kingdom. He has a special interest inCentral andEastern Europe and isUNESCO Professor at theJagiellonian University, professor emeritus atUniversity College London, a visiting professor at theCollège d'Europe, and an honorary fellow atSt Antony's College, Oxford. He was granted Polish citizenship in 2014.[2]
Davies was born to Richard and Elizabeth Davies inBolton,Lancashire. He is of Welsh descent. He studied inGrenoble, France, from 1957 to 1958 and then underA. J. P. Taylor atMagdalen College,Oxford, where he earned a BA in history in 1962. He was awarded anMA at theUniversity of Sussex in 1966 and also studied inPerugia, Italy. Davies intended to study for a PhD in the Soviet Union but was denied an entry visa, so he went toKraków, Poland, instead. Davies studied at theJagiellonian University and did research on thePolish–Soviet War. As this war was denied in theofficial communist Polish historiography of that time, he was obliged to change the title of his dissertation toThe British Foreign Policy towards Poland, 1919–20. After he obtained his PhD in Kraków in 1968, the English text was published in 1972 under the titleWhite Eagle, Red Star: The Polish–Soviet War 1919–20.[3]
From 1971, Davies taught Polish history at theSchool of Slavonic and East European Studies, where he was professor from 1985 to 1996, when he retired. He subsequently becameSupernumerary Fellow atWolfson College, Oxford, from 1997 to 2006. Throughout his career, Davies has lectured in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Poland and in most of the rest of Europe as well.
Stanford University's history department denied Davies atenured faculty position in 1986 (on an 11 against, 10 for and 1 abstaining, vote).[4] The decision was described as "the closest, most acrimonious tenure decision of recent years".[5] After failing to arrange a formal review hearing of the decision, Davies filed a lawsuit against History ProfessorHarold Kahn and 29 other Stanford professors. This case was dismissed when Davies was unable to depose Kahn.[5] Davies subsequently sought to obtain $3 million in damages from the university, arguing he had been the victim ofdiscrimination on the grounds of his political views (with the claim being "defamation," "breach of contract" and "tortious interference" with a business). The court ruled that because of California's right of privacy "even if we assume that... a candidate may be denied tenure for improper" [e.g., defamatory] "reasons, we are of the opinion that the right of a faculty member to discuss with his colleagues the candidate's qualifications thoroughly and candidly, in confidence and without fear of compelled disclosure, is of such paramount value that it ought not to be impaired." The court upheld the university's right to decide on faculty appointments on the basis of any criteria.[6][7]
Davies is a visiting professor at theCollège d'Europe.[8]
Davies' first book,White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20 was published in 1972.
His 1981 bookGod's Playground, a comprehensive overview of Polish history, was published officially in Poland only after thefall of communism. In 1984, Davies publishedHeart of Europe, a briefer, more essay-like history of Poland, in which the chapters are arranged in reverse chronological order.
In the 1990s, Davies publishedEurope: A History (1996) andThe Isles: A History (1999), about Europe and the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively. Each book is a narrative interlarded with numerous sidepanel discussions of microtopics.
In 2000, Davies' Polish publishersZnak published a collection of his essays and articles under the titleSmok wawelski nad Tamizą ("TheWawel Dragon on theThames").
In 2002, at the suggestion of the city's mayor,Bogdan Zdrojewski, Davies and his former research assistant,Roger Moorhouse, co-wrote a history ofWrocław / Breslau, a Silesian city. TitledMicrocosm: Portrait of a Central European City, the book was published simultaneously in English, Polish and German, and was later translated into Czech, French and Italian.
Davies also writes essays and articles for the mass media. Among others, he has worked for theBBC as well as British and American magazines and newspapers, such asThe Times,The New York Review of Books andThe Independent. In Poland, his articles appeared in the liberal Catholic weeklyTygodnik Powszechny.
Davies' bookRising '44. The Battle for Warsaw describes theWarsaw Uprising. It was followed byEurope at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory (2006).In 2008 Davies participated in the documentary filmThe Soviet Story.[9]
Davies holds a number of honorary titles and memberships, includinghonorary doctorates from the universities of theJagiellonian University (since 2003),Lublin,Gdańsk andWarsaw (since 2007), memberships in thePolish Academy of Learning (PAU), theAcademia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea,[10] and the International Honorary Council[11] of the European Academy of Diplomacy, and fellowships of theBritish Academy, theRoyal Historical Society[12] and theRoyal Society of Literature.[13]
Davies received an honoraryDLitt degree from his alma mater the University of Sussex.[14] Davies is also anhonorary citizen of Polish cities ofWarsaw,Wrocław,Lublin, andKraków,[15] and a member of the committee for theOrder of the Smile.[citation needed]
Edward Bernard Raczyński, President of thePolish government-in-exile, decorated Davies with theOrder of Polonia Restituta. On 22 December 1998President of PolandAleksander Kwaśniewski awarded him the Grand Cross (1st class) of theOrder of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Finally, on 11 November 2012, Davies was decorated with theOrder of the White Eagle, Poland's highest civilian award.
In 2001, Davies was made a companion of theOrder of Saint Michael and Saint George for service to Central European history.[16]
Davies has been appointed to the advisory board of theEuropean Association of History Educators—EUROCLIO. In 2008, he was awarded theOrder of the Cross of St Mary's Land 3rd Class by the Republic ofEstonia.
Davies also receivedKnight of Freedom Award in 2006 for his promotion of Polish history and the values represented by GeneralCasimir Pulaski.[17][18]
In 2012, he received theAleksander Gieysztor Prize for his promotion of Polish cultural heritage abroad.[15]
In 2019 he was accepted by Swedish Academy to the list of literature Nobel Prize candidates. The information was announced during author's meeting inGniezno, Poland.[19]
Davies disagrees with thehistorical policy of the Law and Justice party. He stated in 2017 that "PiS wants to politicize history to a degree unseen in the last 25 years".[20]
Davies himself argues that "Holocaust scholars need have no fears that rational comparisons might threaten that uniqueness. Quite the opposite." and that "one needs to re-construct mentally the fuller picture in order to comprehend the true enormity of Poland's wartime cataclysm, and then to say with absolute conviction 'Never Again'."[21][22]
Davies married Maria Korzeniewicz, a Polish scholar born inDąbrowa Tarnowska. He lives in Oxford and Kraków, and has two sons.[23] His uncleDonny died in theMunich air disaster.[24]
Davies was initially a member of theCongregational Church in Bolton, but converted toRoman Catholicism.[25] His mother was a devout Christian and anonconformist Protestant. In an interview forAleteia in 2018, Davies stated that he converted to Roman Catholicism in Poland and believed indivine providence based on the doctrine of providence ofSt Augustine. He also expressed his respect for theUkrainian Orthodox Church and once attended the Ukrainian Orthodoxliturgy.[26] Polish journalistJan Wróbel called Davies a "liberal Catholic and open-minded patriot".[27]
Davies's works have been criticized at Stanford and elsewhere, by such experts as Lucy S. Dawidowicz (author ofThe War Against the Jews: 1933–1945) who said they felt Davies minimized historic anti-Semitism in Poland and tended to blame Polish Jews for their fate in the Holocaust. Davies' supporters contend that Poles suffered as much as Jews did in the war and could have done very little to save any of the 3 million Jews living in Poland at the time of the Nazi invasion in 1939. Davies had sought $3 million in damages from the university for what he called fraud, misrepresentation, breach of contract, discrimination and defamation.
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