PROFESSOR JANUSZ DURKO (1915–2017)

Janusz Durko, Prof. Dr with habilitation, wasa historian, an archivist, and a distinguished museologist.Born in Warsaw, he graduated from Warsaw University, historyfaculty (1938); then spent a whole WWII here. Afterthe liberation from German occupation, he worked in theCapital City Reconstruction Office (Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy),then in the Institute of National Remembrance (InstytutPamięci Narodowej) founded to conduct research on contemporaryhistory. His doctorate degree he obtained in1948, habilitation in 1955, professorship in 1964.In 1951, he was appointed to the post of a director of theMain Historical Museum, which two years later was changedinto the Historical Museum of Warsaw. The permanent exhibitionhe opened in 1955 was the first, exhaustive and complete,attempt to give the synthetic presentation of Warsawpast; the museum itself – as an institution of the greatestimportance in the field of historical museums in Poland atthe time – was inspiring a development of historical exhibitionsalso in museums of other countries. This helped JanuszDurko to establish his highly regarded professional position:he had been invited to be a member of many committees,councils (including museum ones) and associations, as wellas editorial boards of magazines, inter alia, “Museology”.In the years 1951–2003, when Janusz Durko was the headof the Historical Museum of Warsaw, it was one of the maininstitutions for research on Warsaw history, the venue of numerousconferences, sessions and temporary exhibitions. Itwas maintaining good relations with many other countries,creating intensely its own collection, and offering an attractiveeducational programme. The number of its brancheswas steadily growing.Among Professor’s publications (ca. 140) of various kindthere is one of an undoubtedly monumental character: eightvolumes of the Bibliografia Warszawy (1958–2006) edited byhim, where he registered everything, or nearly everything,that was being published on Warsaw in the years 1795–1970.In recognition of Professor’s achievements he had beenawarded a number of times with, inter alia: the Minister ofCulture and Arts Award of 1st degree for protection of culturalheritage, the Award of Capital City of Warsaw (twice),title of “Homo Varsoviensis”, the Order of Polonia RestitutaFirst Class – the Grand Cross with Star, the Gold Medal forMerit to Culture “Gloria Artis”.After getting retired in 2003, Professor Durko still maintainedclose relation with museum by being a member ofthe Museum Council (2004–2008). In 2015, the institutionhe had been running for 52 years had an honour of hostinghim for the last time during the celebration of his 100thbirthday. He died a year after and was buried in the PowązkiMilitary Cemetery.