[6] In autumn 1907, he left for Lwow, where - apart from participating in Askenazy's seminar - he attended lectures by historians Ludwik Finkel and Bronisław Dembiński, philologist Józef Kallembach and philosopher Kazimierz Twardowski.

In January 1911, he started his postdoctoral degree on the basis of the second part of the book Poland during the Seven Years' War and numerous earlier articles and studies.

The resolution of the Council of the Faculty of Philosophy of 26 May 1911 to award Konopczyński veniam legendi in the field of modern history was approved on 2 August 1911 by the Ministry of Confessions and Education of Austro-Hungary.

Between 1912 and 1913, apart from Polish archives, he visited London, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Dresden, Marburg, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Moscow and Kiev.

He considered the monumental Konfederacja Barska [Bar Confederation] as opus magnum of his search, the book that was published 25 years later and treated as a work of his life.

He stayed in Scandinavia for about a year and a half, but devoted most of his time to archival research, which later resulted in a scientific dissertation on Polish-Swedish and Polish-Danish relations.

In his huge historical writing legacy, the main work (written in the interwar period and prepared for 25 years) was the already mentioned Bar Confederation (vol.

The legal and political were the issues raised in the Origins and establishment of the Constant Council (1917), very early and yet considered by many researchers to be Konopczyński's most mature work in the historical-legal field.

In 1931, he founded Polski słownik biograficzny (The Polish Biographical Dictionary) and served as its first editor, seeing seven volumes through press, 1935–1949, before being forced by Poland's postwar communist government to resign his editorship.

[1][2] Konopczyński's great merit lays in the initiation and commencement of the publication of the largest collective work of Polish inter-war historiography.

While studying at the Russian University of Warsaw, he took part in the work of Brotherly Aid when the organisation was headed by young people connected with the Polish Youth Union "Zet".

However, it was only at the end of 1917, after long hesitations and disputes with Franciszek Bujak, that he joined the secret National League, where he was a commissioner after Stefan Rowiński resigned, and then a member of the General Council, until its dissolution in 1927.

Despite their constructive discussion, the General did not agree to send French troops to Poland, citing the paucity of the forces and lack of communication with Lwow as the reasons.

During the Polish-Bolshevik war, Konopczyński volunteered to join the army and was an instructor of the artillery of the common movement in the Krakow garrison.Two years earlier, on 8 October 1918, he became a member of the now openly operating Democratic and National Party.

Nevertheless, during his term in office, he managed to carry out several significant educational acts: on copyright law, on the transfer of the former building of the National Sejm to the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwow and on political associations.

In a matter of days, the situation in the capital was becoming more and more tense, and old nationalist activists could not control a young wing who by fair means or foul used smear campaign against the newly elected president, ultimately leading to his murder.

At that time, a committee was made up of: Emil Godlewski, Fr Kazimierz Lutosławski, Jan Zamorski, Zofia Sokolnicka and Władysław Konopczyński - 'to lay down a bill securing the percentage of Poles in higher education institutions'.

The professor's speech gained publicity in the press and made him enemies in Piłsudski's circles, as the Marshal did not accept the committee's verdict and did not stop in attacks on the Military Historical Bureau.

In accordance with the entire nationalist camp, he insisted on 'the unbendable rule of law' so he rejected and condemned Piłsudski's authoritarian tendencies.

In 'Głos Narodu' (The Voice of the Nation) from 1926, he compared Piłsudski's May Coup with the fatal rebellions of Mikołaj Zebrzydowski and Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski.

The professor criticised the intelligentsia, believing that at a decisive moment in history, it betrayed its social expectations and her attitude was characterised by fear, softness and readiness to give up defending national interests.

On 6 November 1939, as a result of Sonderaktion Krakau, the scientist was arrested, then held in a Nazi prison in Wrocław, and eventually in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In the years 1940-1941, with the aid of the regained private library, interviews with people taking an active part in the political life of the Sanacja (Reform), a set of nationalist newspapers, a selection of Marshal's writings, transcripts and Sejm prints, he prepared a two-volume work entitled Piłsudski and Poland.

Under a pseudonym he wrote polemical articles to the secret nationalist newspaper "Walka [Struggle]" Luckily for him he avoided arrest, but he was under surveillance by the security authorities.

[21] Despite holding the most important functions in the historical environment, his position was weakened not only because of his independence of opinion, but also because of the personal aversion of the Minister of Education, Stanisław Skrzeszewski.

When he was urged to make concessions and humble himself in front of the communist dignitaries, during a scientific conference in the auditorium of the Jagiellonian University on 26 January 1946 he said: "One hears that the science is to serve life.

In May, Konopczyński was forced to resign from the position of President of the PTH - as he noted, 'Skrzeszewski did not allow me in front of him and refused to provide the Association with any material assistance while the zoological anti-Semite was in charge.

Every intelligent person knew this was absurd, but the core of the insult was hidden somewhere else: my words spoken at a scientific conference in the Jagiellonian University auditorium on 26 January 1946 were remembered in governmental spheres'.

[23] Konopczyński experienced the last few years of his life very painfully, seeking solace in prayer and meetings with his Dominican friend, Father Jacek Woroniecki.

He was one of the few who, alongside Tadeusz Strumiłło, Jan Obrąpalski, Franciszek Bujak and Stanisław Michalski, often visited the professor, while the rest of his pupils and friends - caused by fear - moved away from him.