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Collector, Physicist, Entrepreneur: Tomasz Niewodniczański

Tomasz (Thomas) Niewodniczański (*25/9/1933 Wilna – †3/1/2010 Bitburg) was a nuclear physicist, entrepreneur and collector who compiled an extraordinarily valuable collection of Polish memorabilia after the Second World War. After studying physics himself, Tomasz took a job at the Instytut Badań Jądrowych PAN (Institute for Nuclear Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences) in Świerk. From 1958 to 1965, he then continued his research work in Zurich where he wrote his dissertation on the subject of nuclear physics. It was also during this time that he married the architecture student, who was later to be Professor Marie-Luise Simon and was part of the well known Bitburger brewery dynasty. Tomasz Niewodniczański spent the period from 1965 to 1970 with his family in Poland, where he headed up the Samodzielne Laboratorium Budowy Akceleratora Liniowego (Independent Laboratory for the Construction of a Linear Accelerator). In 1970, the family emigrated to the Federal Republic of Germany. Niewodniczański initially worked as a physicist at institutes in Heidelberg and Darmstadt before entering the business world where he became a member of the Executive Board at Bitburger Brauerei Th. Simon. He held this position until 1998 and was responsible for the company’s finances for many years. Meanwhile, motivated by idealism, Niewodniczański built an important collection of cartographic works and old prints to preserve cultural heritage. In 2009, his Polish memorabilia was given to the Royal Palace in Warsaw on permanent loan.

Tomasz Niewodniczański

Private collection Emanuela Danielewicz

In 1991, Tomasz Niewodniczański received an honorary doctorate from the University of Trier for his achievements in making important Polish cultural works available to the public. In 1999, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Applied Sciences appointed him Honorary Senator. In 1993, Niewodniczański was honoured with the Federal Cross of the Order of Merit on ribbon and in 1998 with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2002, he received the Cross of the Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2004, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2009, the Republic of Poland decorated him with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, and his wife Marie-Luise was given the Gloria Artis gold medal for services to culture.

Tomasz Niewodniczański died on 3 January 2010 and was buried in the cemetery in Bitburg. In line with his wishes, his headstone bears the inscription: “Collector, Physicist, Entrepreneur”.

Joanna de Vincenz, May 2018

(All footnotes are comments made by the german translator Brigitte Nenzel).

Literature:

Thomas Niewodniczański (publ.), “Ich bin gesund und fühle mich wohl”. Briefe polnischer Häftlinge aus den deutschen Konzentrationslagern, translated by Marie-Luise Niewodniczańska, exhibition catalogue from the collection of Thomas Niewodniczański of the Historical Society of Prümer Land e.V. in the customer service hall of Bitburg-Prüm Kreissparkasse in Prüm, Prüm 2009.

Brückenschlag. Polnische Geschichte in Karten und Dokumenten, exhibition catalogue in the State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin from 18 April to 8 June 2002.

Danzig. Alte Stadtansichten, Landkarten, Dokumente. Auswahl aus der Sammlung Tomasz Niewodniczański. Exhibition at the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt, Haus Deiters, 13 October – 17 November 2000. Published by the German-Poland Institute in Darmstadt. Exhibition and catalogue Kriemhild Kern and Matthias Kneip.

Imago Germaniae: Das Deutschlandbild der Kartenmacher in fünf Jahrhunderten, from the map section of the State Library of Prussion Cultural Heritage in Berlin and the Niewodniczański, Collection in Bitburg, exhibition catalogue in the State Library of Berlin from 23 September to 9 November 1996. Exhibition and catalogue: Lothar Zögner. With an introduction by Joachim Neumann.

Thomas Niewodniczański (publ.), Mickiewicziana w zbiorach Tomasza Niewodniczańskiego w Bitburgu, in conjunction with the German-Polish Institute in Darmstadt, Vol. I, Warszawa 1989, Vol. II, Warszawa, 1993.

Dieter Bingen, Peter Oliver Loew (publ.), Polen. Kurze Geschichte einer langen Geschichte. Mit Illustrationen aus der Sammlung Tomasz Niewodniczański, accompanying booklet to the exhibition “Imago Poloniae” in the Hessen State Museum in Darmstadt from 30 April to 18 July 2004, German Poland Institute, Darmstadt 2004.

Doktor Niwo. Włodzimierz Kalicki in conversation with Tomasz Niewodniczański, [in:] Gazeta Wyborcza dated 23 July 2007.

Andrzej Michał Kobos, Polska Akademia Umiejętności, vol. XI, 2012, p. 149–192.

Joanna Skibińska, Porträt: Zu Besuch beim Sammler Tomasz Niewodniczański / Z wizytą u kolekcjonera Tomasza Niewodniczańskiego. Portret, [in:] Dialog. German-Polish magazine No. 72–73 (2005/2006), p. 107–115.

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Collector, Physicist, Entrepreneur: Tomasz Niewodniczański

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