(Video interview)
The Armenian community of Poland has had an important
contribution in the life of Poland through history, says Dr. Krzysztof Stopka,
Professor of History at Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland) in the
interview to Scholarm.com. Dr. Stopka has been studying Armenian issues for
over 30 years by now, and is the author of many academic books on this topic,
among them The Armenian Warsaw album which describes in detail the
contributions of Polish Armenians in the history of Warsaw. “The Armenians played from the 14th century a very
important role in the history of Poland. They played an important role in the
diplomatic relations between the Polish state and the Ottoman Empire as they
were mostly translators of the Polish envoys to Constantinople, as well as with
Persia since 17th century.
The Armenians also contributed to the
orientalization of the Polish culture by importing large quantities of oriental
goods into the Polish market as merchants… From the 18th century the Armenians
played a role in the Polish high culture, for example they worked at our
[Jagiellonian] University... [W]e have had a few Armenian professors here at
our University. The founder of Chemistry at our University was also an Armenian
from Lvov”, – says Dr. Stopka, naming Ian Yashkevich who was also the
co-founder of the Botanical garden in the University.
He then tells the story of the Polish king Kazimir the
Great who was also the founder of the Jagiellonian University in 1364. The King
was a benefactor of Armenians – he invited the Armenians to Lvov (today’s
Ukraine, but at that time part of Polish Kingdom) and gave them privileges by
issuing an Armenian Law in the city from 1356. This mainly had an economic
reason – the king wanted to develop oriental trade in Lvov, which was located
between the East and the West, and invited Armenians (as well as Germans, Jews
and other nationalities) because they were good at trade and had very good
economic background in the East.
Speaking about the Armenian cultural trace in Poland Dr.
Stopka among other things highlights the Cathedral in Lvov, founded in 1963
which was built in typical Armenian style. Also in Zamość there was an Armenian
quarter in one part of the city. Polish great Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, the
founder of Zamość, also invited Armenians from Ottoman and Persian Empires, as
well as from Yerevan. He gave them also the part of the city where they built
Armenian Apostolic church. The church has been destroyed but the Armenian buildings
in the city have survived till today, and there is still an Armenian street in
this city.
The Armenian community in Poland is comprised of the
Armenians who came from Lvov and the Armenians who actually lived in Poland.
The first wave of the Armenians came from Crimea to Lvov (which was the
integral part of Polish Kingdom at that time) as well as in
Kamianets-Podilskyi. These Armenians spoke Kipchak language and they wrote in
that language using the Armenian alphabet, which is quite an interesting linguistic
phenomenon. Dr. Stopka has a book devoted to this subject.
In the 17th century the union of the Armenian Apostolic
Church in Poland with Catholic Rome took place, which marked a major shift for
the Armenian Church and contributed to the assimilation of the Armenians. In
the 17th century Turkey captured one part of Poland, which included Podole, as
a result of which the Armenians fled Kamianets-Podilskyi. They settled in
Warsaw, in Poznan and in other cities in Poland. This also led to fast
assimilation of the Armenians in Poland, as they didn’t have self-governance in
these cities. They nevertheless managed to obtain the most prestigious
positions in these cities.
Armenian Warsaw
Dr. Stopka has authored a book titled “Armenian Warsaw”
which presents a large collection of facts about the contribution of the
Armenians in cultural, economic, political and other spheres of life in Warsaw
through history.
He says that when they started collecting materials for
the Armenian Warsaw, it was a big surprise and discovery for them because a lot
was not known on this topic.
“We had only three months to prepare this book but we
found a lot about the Armenians who played a very important role in the economy
of the capital of Poland from the middle of the 17th and especially 18th
century. The Armenians were a small group in the capital, but they were very
important… for the government of the whole city. It was surprising for us to
find this out. They imported oriental goods to Warsaw, but also they founded
the manufactures of the oriental textiles. Near Warsaw they founded a factory
of Polish belts (very typical for Polish national style) and during the 18th
century this manufacture was very popular… In the 19th century the Armenians
played a very important role in the Polish struggle for independence. They took
part in Polish revolution against Russia in the 18th century and they supported
the Polish case… For the Polish people the Russians were oppressors. The
Armenians also took part in the Polish military during the World War II
fighting against [Nazi] Germany. This is a reason for pride for the descendents
of Armenians”, – says Dr. Stopka.
Because in the 18th century the economic routes changed,
the influx of the Armenians from the East stopped. This marked the beginning of
polonization of the Armenians in Poland. They lived among the Polish and later
among the Ukrainians. They could speak very good Ruthinian and Polish (Polish
was the language of the higher culture). In the 19th century they remembered
their Armenian identity but they also felt as Polish – they had a dual identity.
Speaking about how he started studying the Armenian
issues, Dr. Stopka says that he has always been interested in Oriental Churches
and that he learned about the Armenians first time when his professor (who had
lived in the territory where previously the Armenians resided) suggested that
he wrote a thesis about the Armenian Church. He subsequently wrote his Master’s
thesis on the history of the Armenian colonies in Old Poland. This is how he
started his “adventure in the Armenian history and culture”, as he puts it, and
for about 30 years since then he has been developing his knowledge about the
Armenian history which has never stopped being interesting for him.
“This should be very interesting also for the Armenians
today because this Diaspora [in Poland] in the past was very important among
the Armenian Diasporas in the world. This Diaspora was very small – there were
only three or four thousand Armenians in Poland. But it was a very rich and
influential community and played an important role between the East and the
West. This community was very interesting also because of the languages,
because it was not only Armenian language, they started Kipchak speaking and
then also Armenian, and there were the cities where Armenians and Kipchak were
spoken together – for philologists this should be interesting. I think also
that for Armenians could be interesting the political influence of this small
community for the Armenian question in the 17-18th centuries”, – says the
Polish professor.
Other publications by Dr. Stopka on the Armenian issues
include Journal of History of Polish Armenians called Lehahayer and Armenia
Christiana – book on the history of the Armenian Church between Constantinople
and Rome.
As for his future plans, Dr. Stopka says he is interested
in writing a book about the Armenian Apostolic Church in Poland – from the
beginning up until the union with Rome. He has already collected a lot of new
materials about Armenians from the archives of Ukraine and he believes this is
an interesting discovery. Also, together with his former student from Armenia
Dr. Piruza Mnatsakanyan they are thinking of preparing a dictionary about the
people who played the main role in the Polish culture – copyists, priests,
monks and others.
Another book called Armenian Krakow is now being prepared
by Dr. Stopka’s colleague Dr. Andrzej Zieba, who is also a professor at the
Jagiellonian University.
Dr. Krzysztof
Stopka is a professor of history at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland;
he is also the Director of the Jagiellonian University Museum and the author of
many books and publications.
Interview by Nvard Chalikyan
VIDEO interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gpSxC3WK5BQ
http://scholarm.com/pages/interview/14
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