Leszek Gondek


Leszek Gondek ) was a Polish lawyer, historian, essayist, and writer specializing in 20th-century European and Polish history. He was a professor at the :pl:Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego i Sportu im. Jędrzeja Śniadeckiego w Gdańsku|Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport.

Life

Leszek Gondek's parents were Zdzisław, an artillery captain murdered by the Soviets in March 1940 in the Katyn Forest Massacre; and Janina, née Wałęga, a Polish and Ukrainian teacher. Leszek Gondek served for some years as a lieutenant in Polish counterintelligence.

Research

Gondek's fields of research included the World War II Polish Underground State's justice system; Polish postwar military missions; the political, economic, and military consequences of the War for occupied Germany; and the postwar role of air sports and physical training in the development of defense strategies by Poland's armed forces.
Gondek's analysis of the Polish Underground State's special military courts, civil courts, and special commissions is based on legal papers and documents published during the World War II occupation of Poland. He devotes much attention to legal and structural changes experienced by these organizations over the course of the war, as in the case of the National Armed Forces and the Tatra Confederation behind the Soviet front. Gondek seeks to present the many challenges faced by the Underground judiciary across the territory of the prewar Polish Second Republic.

Works