Zofia Sprys

The article presents the personal and professional life of prof. Jolanta Dworzaczkowa, née Essmanowska (born 1923). She passed her baccalaureate exams in one of the underground high schools in 1942 and graduated from the underground University of the Western Lands (1942- -1944) in Warsaw and from Poznań University (1945-1947). Between 1950 and 1981, she worked and was regarded as a valuable academic lecturer at Poznań University and Adam Mickiewicz University. In 1951, she defended her Ph. D. thesis and in 1960 she received her habilitation. Since 1949 she has contributed over 100 publications (indicated in Bibliography, published along with a short description of her character in the journal Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce in No. 53, 2009, and in Supplement to it, under the article). These publications concern the history of Royal Prussia, the history of Reformation and Counter-reformation, and in particular, the history of the Unity of the Brethren in Poland, and the history of Greater Poland, especially in terms of religion. Among her publications, the most important are the following books: Dziejopisarstwo gdańskie do połowy XVI w. (“Gdańsk Chronicles Until the Middle of the 16th Century) from 1962, Reformacja i kontrreformacja w Wielkopolsce (“Reformation and Counter-reformation in Greater Poland”) from 1955, Bracia czescy w Wielkopolsce w XVI I XVII w. (“The Unity of Brethren in Greater Poland in the 16th and 17th Century”) from 1997, Szkoła w Lesznie do 1656 roku. Nauczyciele i programy (“Education in Leszno Until 1656. Teachers and Curricula”) from 2003 and Z dziejow braci czeskich w Polsce (“The history of the Unity of Brethren in Poland”) from 2003. The academic work of prof. Dworzaczkowa has immense cognitive value and it proves her great scientific skills, therefore it is extremely respected by historians of Reformation and Counter-reformation in Poland and abroad. The expatriated Czech researchers of the history of the Unity of Brethren and the researchers working on the life and work of Jan Amos Komeński in the 16th and the 17th century particularly value her work.