Richard C. Lukas

Richard C. Lukas (born 1937) is an American historian and author of numerous books and articles on Polish history and Polish-Jewish relations. He is recognized as a leading authority on Poland during World War II.

He served as a Research Consultant at the United States Air Force Historical Archives prior to receiving his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1963. He taught at Tennessee Technological University, Wright State University, and the University of South Florida. He has also been a guest lecturer at academic institutions in the United States and Poland.

Lukas was a contributor to the Air Force Lineage Project that resulted in the publication of "Air Force Combat Units of World War II." His specialty included the combat operations of the 8th, 12th and 15th air forces. He later wrote a pioneering military-diplomatic study, "Eagles East," that won him international recognition.

His interest in United States-Polish wartime and postwar relations resulted in two books that filled major gaps in the historical literature on the subject in the 1970s and 1980s.

He is best known for "The Forgotten Holocaust," the first systematic study in English by an American historian of the wartime experience of the Poles and their relations with the Jews. Considered a classic, the book has gone through many printings and editions, including a Polish one.

Including Christian Poles under the umbrella of the "Holocaust" was intended by Lukas to call attention to the horrible persecution of others during the German occupation of Poland. Lukas did not draw absolute parity between the sufferings of the Jews and Christian Poles during the Holocaust.

Lukas was the first historian to discover two crucial documents sent by the Polish Underground to London, informing the West of the beginning of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The eminent British historian and leading authority on Polish history, Professor Norman Davies, noted in the third American edition of The Forgotten Holocaust in 2012, that over the years Lukas's pioneering work "has proved its worth." Davies added that in regard to the historiography of World War II, "One can see that Lukas took an important step on the long road leading to a healthier and more open state of affairs."

His continuing interest in the Polish tragedy during World War II resulted in several additional books, including the award-winning "Did the Children Cry?" and his recent, highly-regarded, "Forgotten Survivors."

Lukas is also a freelance writer who has published fiction and non-fiction pieces.

Awards and distinctions

• National History Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, (1971)
• Doctor of Humane Letters by Alliance College, (1987)
• Kosciuszko Foundation's Joseph B. Slotkowski Publication Fund Achievement Award
• Polonia Restituta award from the Government of Poland (1988)
• Janusz Korczak Literary Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (1994)
• American Council for Polish Culture's Cultural Achievement Award (1994)
• Waclaw Jedrzejewicz History Award from the Pilsudski Institute of America (2000)
• The Catholic Press Association Award (2009)
• Mieczyslaw Haiman Award, presented by the Polish American Historical Association, (2013)

Publications

• Air Force Aspects of American Aid to the Soviet Union: The Crucial Years 1941-1942 (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Florida State University), 1963
• The Merchandising of the Holocaust, Catalyst, October 1997
• Of Stereotypes and Heroes, Catalyst July-August 2002
• Why Do We Allow Non-Jewish Victims to be Forgotten?
• "Their Legacy is Life," Canadian Messenger (1991)
• "Jedwabne and the Selling of the Holocaust," Inside the Vatican (Nov. 2001)
• "Irena Sendler: World War II's Polish Angel," St. Anthony Messenger (Aug. 2008)

Books

• "Air Force Combat Units of World War II" (Contributing Author), USGPO, 1961; Franklin Watts, 1963.
• Eagles East: The Army Air Forces and the Soviet Union, 1941-1945, Univ Press of Florida, 1970, ISBN 0-8130-0428-4.
• From Metternich to the Beatles, Mentor, 1973, ISBN 0-451-61191-8.
• The Strange Allies, the United States and Poland, 1941-1945, University of Tennessee Press, 1978, ISBN 0-87049-229-2.
• Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II, University Press of Kentucky, 1982, ISBN 0-8131-1460-8.
• Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust, University Press of Kentucky, 1989, ISBN 0-8131-1692-9.
• Zapomiany Holocaust: Polacy Pod Okupacja Niemiecka, 1939–1944, Jednosc, 1995.
• The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944, University of Kentucky Press, 1986; Hippocrene Books, 1990; 2d rev.ed., 1997: 3d rev.ed., 2012. ISBN 0-7818-0901-0.
• Did the Children Cry: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945, Hippocrene Books, 2001, ISBN 0-7818-0870-7.
• Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation, University Press of Kansas, 2004, ISBN 0-7006-1350-1.
• Zapomiany Holokaust: Polacy Pod Okupacja Niemiecka, 1939-1944, Wydawnictwo Rebis, 2012.

External links

• Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of the World War II Book review.
• Forgotten Survivors. Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation. The Sarmatian Review, Jan. 2006 Book review.