Talk:Richard C. Lukas

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:23, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Firstness
has repeatedly added the claim that Lukas's book is "the first systematic English language study by an American historian of the wartime experiences of the Poles and their relations with the Jews." This is a boastful claim offered without any sourcing, much less a reliable one. It should not be readded until and unless a reliable source is found. --Nat Gertler (talk) 21:09, 4 December 2018 (UTC)

Award controversy - BLP/UNDUE?
I am concerned whether a single news article is enough to warrant discussing a controversy about this award in light of WP:UNDUE/WP:BLP. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 10:30, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

This award was cancelled in everything but name. The organization bestowing the award, the ADL, mailed a 1,000$ check as a nuisance award to avoid legal fees. The ADL stated that is why they sent the check in the mail. The ADL denounced the work publicly and cancelled the ceremony. Whenever this episode is mentioned by anyone other than Lukas himself, this is stated. Press coverage here is significant in relation to coverage of Lukas in general. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peachout (talk • contribs) 13:39, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

False claims (BLP) issue
I just noticed in http://www.richardclukas.com/ (section controversy) this: "More recently, untrue statements have been listed on Lukas’s page by a contributor to Wikipedia. The Wikipedia content reads “John T. Pawlikowski writes that the The Forgotten Holocaustis the most comprehensive work covering ethnic Poles under the Nazis and that the Polish-American community effectively canonized it. However Pawlikowski notes that just as historian Thaddeus Gromada was forced to make changes to Lukas’ speech (for the United Stats Holocaust Memorial Museum) due to antisemitic content, he too has reservations with Lukas’ work treating ethnic Poles and Jews as co-equal victims of the Holocaust: a basic error common among Polish-Americans that is rejected by other scholars.”  The reference to the speech is entirely false.  Proof of this exists within a newly obtained document from Dr. Gromada himself, seen here: " --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here  01:31, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Where is that text in the article (now or in the past)? SarahSV (talk) 02:55, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Seems to have been added by WP:SPA and was removed by  (Thaddeus Gromada?). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here  03:05, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Peachout added it on 3 February 2020. The allegation about the speech was removed by Tadgromada29, another SPA, on 19 February. So it was there for 16 days. SarahSV (talk) 03:35, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Right, about as long as a different problem in the Grabowski article which IIRC you fixed. Just thought this should be mentioned on talk in case another SPA tries to restore this. Btw, do you think Peachout should be blocked? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 04:05, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * What does this issue have to do with Grabowski? Also, the problems with his article remain. My version didn't last. SarahSV (talk) 04:12, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Which version in which article? If there is a problem with Grabowski's bio, I suggest you can describe it there on his talk page. I hope there are no further BLP issues with it. I offered to help him with fixing any errors in my chat with him a while back, but I think he is too busy; last I heard from him he was trying to go back to Poland, which is not easy with the COVID crisis. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 04:24, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

PS. Some related comments are also at Talk:The_Forgotten_Holocaust:_The_Poles_Under_German_Occupation,_1939-1944. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 02:09, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 10 February 2023
"add a conflict of interest/ NPOV template warning to the page. Club On a Sub 20 (talk) 16:12, 10 February 2023 (UTC)
 * @Club On a Sub 20COI is on the talk page. NPOV added. Lemonaka (talk) 11:26, 11 February 2023 (UTC)
 * @Club On a Sub 20 :@Lemonaka Hi, why the NPOV was added to this article? Seems like pretty standard biogram with basic facts of life, academic career and list of published books, with a short summary. I honestly don't see here a room for non-neutral POV. What are the issues in your opinion? Marcelus (talk) 20:03, 11 February 2023 (UTC)
 * @MarcelusUndone, after carefully checking the booklist. There's nothing for promotion Lemonaka (talk) 20:05, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 6 March 2023
Recommended Changes in current biography of Richard C. Lukas on Wikipedia

Last sentence in first paragraph should read: “Some of his books have received criticism mostly from Jewish historians for downplaying anti-Semitism in wartime Poland and overstating the heroism of Poles in rescuing Jews during the war.” (This is a far more accurate assessment than the last sentence currently in the biography.)

The editors of Wikipedia have done a fine job covering Lukas’s award -winning book, Eagles East.

But why doesn’t coverage of The Strange Allies and Bitter Legacy have any reviews? These were pioneer books in diplomatic history involving Poland and the reviews were positive. Neither book was controversial.

The major problem with the Lukas biography is coverage of The Forgotten Holocaust. I am at a loss to understand why the review by Edward Wynot is completely ignored, especially since it appeared in the top historical journal, The American Historical Review, the premier journal of historians. In the interests of fairness and balance, which Wikipedia prides itself, the lead review should be by Norman Davies, the dean of historians of Poland, who wrote the Foreword to The Forgotten Holocaust. There are many statements in the Foreword from which the editors could choose. The Davies’ comments should be followed with the existing reviews by Marrus and Sanford. As this section currently stands, the coverage is grossly unfair and unbalanced.

The next paragraph covering Out of Inferno is strange, referring to some German who reviewed the book. But there is no review. Remove reference to Pohl.

Regarding the section covering Did the Children Cry?, I know that the ADL panel who awarded the Korczak Prize to Lukas was composed of Jewish and non-Jewish judges. Consult Lukas’ homepage and he documents the Jewish leaders who endorsed the book and the prize. In the interests of truth, it should be clearly stated that the political leadership under Abraham Foxman decided to take the prize away from Lukas. It wasn’t just Lukas’s threat of a lawsuit but the support  for Lukas from both Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals that forced Foxman to reverse his decision.

Forgotten Survivors was not Lukas’s final volume as stated in the Lukas bio on Wikipedia. He wrote, The Torpedo Season: Growing Up during World War II, published by Amazon in December, 2021. (ISBN 9798721020223). One review appeared in The Polish American Journal and another is scheduled for release in Polish American Studies.

Finally, I think you should consider adding another review of Forgotten Survivors by Alexander Rossino that appeared in the April 2006 issue of World War II. I noticed this review was reprinted on line in 2019. Rossino is a fine fair-minded historian and former fellow of the United States Holocaust Museum.

Regarding the bibliography, why haven’t the Polish translations of Lukas’s books for Polish readers been included? Of course, now that you know about Lukas’s new book, The Torpedo Season, I expect that you will ad that. Boulder2929 (talk) 16:25, 6 March 2023 (UTC)


 * I'm not editing articles at the moment, so I won't be making any of these changes... but let me knock away a few suggestions that no editor should be making.


 * The statement that criticisms of his work comes "mostly from Jewish historians" should not be stated without at least a reliable source stating such. Even if we can cite a number of Jewish historians who have criticized, it should not be assumed that non-Jewish historians are not, if perhaps getting less attention for it. As it is, it comes across like a possible attempt to discount criticism because it comes from Jews, which is a problematic angle.


 * The idea that the foreword should be the "lead review" of the work. The writer of a foreword is not an independent third-party source, one will generally select the writer of a foreword to support rather than undermine a work, and foreword writers are frequently paid for their contributions.


 * While Amazon is a publisher of books, they are not the publisher of Torpedo Season. The Amazon page for that book lists it as being "independently published", which generally means that someone used the tools that Amazon makes available for publishing. In most (not all) cases, those tools are used for self-publishing... and given that no publisher is listed on the book jacket or indicia and that the editors and cover designer all have "Lukas" in their name and that the book has some amateur layout mistakes (sorry, publisher here), it's rather clear that this is a self-published memoir. HAving said that, I'm dubious that the book need be included at all. Bibliographies need not be complete, and this book seems unlikely to get much attention as it is outside his primary oeuvre; it's not a history book per se, its a memoir targeted at a small audience ("a love letter to a close-knit New England family", per the back cover.) --Nat Gertler (talk) 17:27, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * @Boulder2929 Some of this is being discussed extensively and recently at Talk:The_Forgotten_Holocaust. In either case, your arguments would be much better if you included sources (links) for your claims and the sources you mention (like, where is that review by Rossino? Or Wynot?). PS. I thought we had a mention of Davies' view, I see it was removed here. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 04:47, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
 * To your point, the sources for Rossino and Wynot would need to be provided. But there are a couple of things I don't understand. Up above, there's a mention of conflict of interest (one of Lukas's sons). Firstly, Richard Lukas doesn't have any sons. Secondly, the coverage of the Korczak award section does sound very unbalanced. In the interest of presenting the facts surrounding the controversy, I'd like to suggest this, after the first sentence (with sources named below): The award, recommended by a panel of judges, was cancelled by the ADL, then headed by Abraham Foxman, for political reasons, over the objections of Danuta Mostwin, Jewish founder of the award and a longtime member of the jury panel. She said, "I don't think it was legitimate criticism (by Foxman). Dr. Lukas portrayed children as children: not Jewish or Christian, just children." (f.n.) Foxman reversed his position because of a threat of a law suit, by Lukas and support from Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals. Lukas eventually received the award.(f.n.)
 * f.n. 1, Letter, Mostwin to Edelman, April 16, 1996, in ADL Archives and also in Lukas Archives.
 * f.n.2, Eric Ernst, "Comment", Sarasota Tribune, March 22, 1996. Joseph Kutrzeba, a Jewish film maker, thought Lukas' book "a work of thorough and credible scholarship." Also see comments of support from the Catholic League, headed by William Donovan during this period. Alpine L (talk) 17:18, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
 * The "son" descriptor above has been changed to better match the conflicted editor's statement (yes, people who are not male also have fathers.) Thank you for catching that. As for saying that the cancellation was "for political reasons" is a bit of POV that should not be done in Wikipedia's source. And if we were to include the Mostwin quote, we'd rather get it from a reliable third-party source that indicates that the use of the quote is of appropriate weight. (We would have trouble quoting directly from the letter while Lukas is alive due to WP:BLPSPS.) --Nat Gertler (talk) 17:54, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
 * @Alpine L Apologies for a late reply; if you reply here please WP:ECHO me to make sure I notice your comment (I'l subscribe to this thread just in case). The context you provide (about the disagreement between Danuta Mostwin and Abraham Foxman) is very interesting, but sourcing content to a WP:PRIMARY source is not ideal (and it is very difficult to WP:Verify it). Is there any chance you could arrange for that letter to be published online, or reprined in a WP:RS? As for footnote two, I'll @Cunard with regards to whether this newspaper can be accessed online, and if so, how (I'd like to verify myself if it confirms the facts mentioned). Based on the comment above, "support from Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals" right now would read as support from a single individual (Joseph Kutrzeba)? Who else would represent the group of " Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals" who supported him? Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 23:46, 18 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi . Here is a copy of the article:Cunard (talk) 10:24, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. It does not appear there is consensus for these changes. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 19:48, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Concerns by BLP subject
I want to draw editors' attention to these comments by the BLP subject:. I don't know for sure, but it might be worth examining this page with that in mind. --Tryptofish (talk) 15:17, 20 May 2023 (UTC)


 * His biggest direct complaint is that we are no longer including quotes from the foreword as reviews of the book. That absence is appropriate; its writer quite possibly got paid for it (not necessarily, sez the publisher who has scammed a free forward or two in its day), and even if not, it can not in any reasonable way be judged as an independent third-party source, as it's part of the book. We should no more take that as a viable source for review quotes than we should accept movie poster ad copy as reviews. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 15:57, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 13 June 2024
Richard Conrad Lukas (born August 29, 1937) is an American historian and author of books and articles on military, diplomatic, Polish, and Polish-American history. He specializes in the history of Poland during World War II.

Before retiring from active teaching in 1995, he taught and did research at Tennessee Technological University, Wright State University, and the University of South Florida.

Lukas is best known for The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939–1944 (1986), a study of the wartime experience of the Polish people.


 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. M.Bitton (talk) 20:54, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Early life and education
Lukas was born on August 29, 1937, in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Pelagia Lukaszewski (née Kapuscinski) and her husband, Franciszek Lukaszewski. After receiving a BA in 1957, he worked as a research consultant, from 1957 to 1958, at the United States Air Force Historical Archives. He was awarded an MA in 1960 and a PhD from Florida State University in 1963, for a thesis entitled "Air Force Aspects of American Aid to the Soviet Union: The Crucial Years 1941–1942".

Career
Lukas worked at Tennessee Technological University for 26 years from 1963, first as an assistant professor until 1966, then associate professor until 1969, and professor from then until 1989. He moved from Tennessee that year to Wright State University, teaching at its Lake campus until 1992. After this he worked as an adjunct professor of history at the Fort Myers campus of the University of South Florida until retiring in 1995.

Publication history
As a graduate student, Lukas was a contributor to the project that resulted in the publication of Air Force Combat Units of World War II (1961).

Eagles East
Lukas' first book, Eagles East: The Army Air Forces and the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 (1970), a military-diplomatic study based on his doctoral dissertation, earned him the national history award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

R. S. Hughes writing for the Military Affairs commended the book for its "extensive and detailed coverage of Allied-Soviet relations during World War II", and noted that it is particularly helpful for its discussion of the Lend-Lease program. Raymond L. Garthoff reviewing the book for the Slavic Review wrote that it is a "useful study" and "recommended reading" for those interested in the political-military history of USA-USSR relations during World War II with regard to interactions between the U.S. Army Air Forces and the USSR.

James J. Hudson in The American Historical Review called the book "an excellent example of military-diplomatic history". Sam Frank, in his review for The Journal of American History, wrote that the book "reflects extensive research and effective writing. An excellent balance has been achieved between factual presentation and interpretation."

The Strange Allies and Bitter Legacy
Lukas wrote two scholarly books on Allied wartime and postwar relations with Poland. His book, The Strange Allies: Poland and the United States, 1941-1945 (1978) concerned the relationship between the United States and the Polish government-in-exile and highlighted the impact of American Polonia in United States-Polish relations. The sequel to The Strange Allies was Bitter Legacy: Polish-American Relations in the Wake of World War II (1982), which dealt with postwar Polish history and Polish-American relations, as well as the aid that was extended to Poland after World War II. George J. Lerski reviewing the book for The American Historical Review called it an "important and well-documented study" featuring "impeccable research in primary and secondary sources".

The Forgotten Holocaust
The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944 (1986) is Lukas' most famous work and has been re-published in two subsequent editions (1997 and 2012, with a foreword by historian Norman Davies). It focuses on the sufferings of ethnic Poles in German- and Soviet-occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945.

Reviewers had differing views of the book. Donald E. Pienkos published a review in the Slavic Review (1986) that he later described as "generally praising the book"; it was followed by a critical review by David Engel in the same venue describing Lukas' book as a one-sided rebuke of "Jewish historians" and detailing "distortion, misrepresentation, and inaccuracy" in the book. An extensive correspondence followed among Lukas, Engel, and others in Slavic Review. Michael R. Marrus wrote in The Washington Post that "Lukas tells this story with an outrage properly contained within the framework of a scholarly narrative" but criticized what he felt was an unjustified "sustained polemic against Jewish historians". George Sanford noted in International Affairs that in tackling the subject of the suffering of ethnic Poles, Lukas's work is "strictly objective and academic in tone, presentation and content. But the underlying purpose is inevitably a polemical one, as he has to rake over the smouldering ashes of numerous sensitive controversies."

Out of the Inferno
Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust (1989) is a volume edited by Lukas dealing with memoirs of Poles concerning the Holocaust. John Klier noted in his review in The Slavonic and East European Review that the book is "a useful contribution" to the literature about The Holocaust in Poland. Jerzy Jan Lerski writing for The Polish Review called the book "timely", but noted it is the weakest of Lukas' books up to date, criticizing it as "uneven, poorly organized and [lacking] focus". The book was also reviewed in German by Dieter Pohl for Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas.

Did the Children Cry?
Karl A. Schleunes in his review of Lukas's book Did the Children Cry?: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939–45 (1994) for The American Historical Review noted that it deals with an under-researched topic, and is a valuable contribution to studies of Germanization and the Holocaust. Schleunes writes that "Lukas makes it a point... to stress 'the commonality of suffering of Jewish and Polish children', an effort in which he largely succeeds." Barbara Tepa Lupack, in The Polish Review, wrote that "Lukas in the current volume provides a gripping portrait of the Nazis' systematic genocide plan for all of Poland as well as an excellent analysis of the relationship between Poland's Jewish and gentile communities".

The book received the Janusz Korczak Literary Award from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The biennial prize, awarded to books about children, was recommended by a panel of judges. The decision of the ADL’s own literary committee had been overrulled by the political leadership of the organization under Abraham Foxman, which decided to withdraw the prize ten days before the award ceremony but reinstated it when Lukas threatened to sue them. The ADL cancelled the award ceremony and mailed the $1000 US prize money to Lukas. According to the ADL, the book was "problematic in several ways" and "strongly understated the level of anti-Semitism in Poland. It also strongly overstated the number of people who rescued Jews." ADL decision to withdraw the prize has been criticized by Danuta Mostwin, member of the panel and founder of the award, Joseph Kutrzeba, Holocaust survivor and film director, Theresa K. Bunk of the Polish American Congress, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Union, and historian Victor S. Mamatey. The event has been discussed in the context of anti-Polonism.

Forgotten Survivors
Lukas' continuing interest in the Polish tragedy during World War II culminated in his final volume, the Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation (2004). Isabel Wollaston in her review of the book for The Slavonic and East European Review noted that "if approached as a memorial volume and/or a collection of oral histories, this is a fascinating book", but due to methodological issues and containing mostly primary accounts, "it should be handled with care and needs to be supplemented and contextualized from other sources if it is to be used for scholarly purposes".

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, Florida State University Press, 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.
 * The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation, 1939-1944, University of Kentucky Press, 1986; Hippocrene Books, 1990; second revised edition, 1997; third revised edition, 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.
 * The Torpedo Season: Growing Up during World War II. Amazon, 2021, ISBN 9798721020223.

Articles

 * "The Polish Experience during the Holocaust," in A Mosaic of Victims, New York University Press, 1990
 * "The Merchandising of the Holocaust", Catalyst magazine, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, October 31, 1997
 * "Of Stereotypes and Heroes", Catalyst magazine, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, July–August 2002
 * "Their Legacy is Life", Canadian Messenger, 1991
 * "Jedwabne and the Selling of the Holocaust", Inside the Vatican, November 2001; reprinted in The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland, Princeton University Press, 2004
 * "Irena Sendler: World War II's Polish Angel", St. Anthony Messenger, August 2008
 * "Rozmowa z Prof. Richardem Lukasem" ("A Conversation with Prof. Richard Lukas"), Uwazam Rze Historia, wrzesień (September) 2012
 * "The Encounter" (fiction), Liguorian, March 2013
 * "God and Country: Catholic Chaplains during World War II", The Priest, June 2014
 * "I'll Be Seeing You: The Warsaw Uprising and the Akins Crew", The Elks Magazine, June 2014
 * "To Save a Life," The Priest, January 2015
 * "Marcus Shook: A Mississippi Hero," in Mississippi History Now, November 2016
 * "Don't Sit on the Torpedo!" (fiction), Liguorian, November 2017
 * "Is It History or Propaganda?" Polish American Journal'', May-June, 2023
 * "A Man for All Seasons: Rev. Jan Januszewski'', The Priest, May, 2024

Awards
He has received awards for his work:
 * National History Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1971)
 * Fellow, American Council of Learned Societies, (1980)
 * Doctor of Humane Letters, from Alliance College, (1987)
 * Kosciuszko Foundation's Joseph B. Slotkowski Publication Fund Achievement Award
 * Order of Polonia Restituta, 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 Cultural Achievement Award (1994)
 * Waclaw Jedrzejewicz History Award, from the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America (2000)
 * The Catholic Press Association Award (2009)
 * Mieczyslaw Haiman Award, presented by the Polish American Historical Association, (2013)