The article is devoted to the establishment, development and activity of the Committee of Oriental Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which has been operating under various names since 1952 and celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. The Committee is the most important institution of Oriental studies in Poland, coordinating and monitoring the development of various fields of this area of science. It also conducts organizational activities (conferences, symposia, conventions) and publishing – among others it is the publisher of the oldest Polish scientific journal in this field, Rocznik Orientalistyczny / Yearbook of Oriental Studies and various publishing series.

17 November 2022 marks the centenary of the death of Jan Grzegorzewski – Orientalist, Slavist, publicist and social activist. The aim of this article is to highlight this figure and to show his activity in various areas of social and scientific life, especially his contribution to Polish Oriental studies. This somewhat forgotten but extremely interesting and colourful, although somewhat controversial, figure has still not received the comprehensive biographical treatment he fully deserves. Thanks to his extraordinary determination and commitment to his activities, Jan Grzegorzewski initiated the establishing of the first Polish scientific journal of Oriental studies, Rocznik Orientalistyczny, for which he also obtained funds. The first part of the first volume of Rocznik, covering the years 1914–1915, was published in 1915 in Cracow, and the second part (for the years 1916–1918) only in 1918. There is also no doubt that with his activities, both academic and journalistic, Jan Grzegorzewski contributed to the establishment of the first Polish Oriental studies in Poland, which took place in 1919 at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Analysing some of Grzegorzewski’s achievements from today’s perspective, one can venture to say that with the issues presented in his publications, he undoubtedly inspired many later Orientalists to set new research directions.

Professor Tadeusz Kowalski (1889–1948) was in correspondence with scholars from practically all over the world. He had an active interest in the developments of Oriental studies in the Soviet Union. He valued the publications he received from the USSR as well as all contacts he had with Russian researchers. He sought to cooperate with Alexander Samoylovich (1880–1938) – one of the most eminent Turkologists in the Soviet Union. This goal had been partially achieved. The archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków now hold, catalogued under ref. no. K III-4, j. 174, just three letters from the Russian Turkologist. These materials, despite their small number, are an engrossing source of knowledge on the state of Soviet Turkish studies in the mid-1920s and the Soviet Oriental studies community. As the author managed to determine, these letters are all the more precious as the branch of the archives at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St.-Petersburg, where the legacy of professor Samoylovich is kept, has no copies. Interestingly, there are no surviving copies of the letters from professor Kowalski to the Russian Turkologist. This article aims to analyse the contents of the letters written by Alexander Samoylovich, the Soviet Turkologist, to professor Tadeusz Kowalski, and determine the purpose and direction in which Turkish studies were developing in the USSR in the period described in these sources.

The article presents the two known Poland-related statements by the Hungarian Orientalist Arminius Vámbéry (1832–1913), who explained his opinion on the possible independence of a Polish state twice – in 1898 and 1906. In 1898, he was interviewed by the Budapest correspondent of the Kraków-based Polish newspaper Nowa Reforma. In 1906, he answered an international survey by the cultural journal Krytyka, based in Kraków as well. Vámbéry’s answer to the question of whether Poland should gain independence once again was positive. Still, he justified the necessity of Polish independence not with the interests of the Polish people but with Europe’s wish to be protected from the Russian Empire: to Vámbéry’s mind, an independent Poland should serve as Europe’s bulwark against the Russian enemy. Vámbéry’s fear of the Russian Empire might be in line with his previous views on the Great Game, the rivalry between the Russian Empire and Great Britain on influence in Central Asia, and the European public opinion at the end of the 19th century.

In the article the author deals with the years the famous Turkologist and historian Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan (1890–1970), who is known for his great edition of the 10th-century Arabic travel account of Ibn Faḍlān was working and teaching at Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn (1935–1938). Various documents relating to events from this period are reproduced in the article (including his appointment to the Oriental Seminar at the university, his appointment as a member of the Finno-Ugric Society in Helsinki, his appointment as an honorary professor, a research stay in Turkey, his leave of absence to carry out a lectureship at the Georg August University in Göttingen, and finally his defence in response to accusations regarding his “political reliability”, which are not known in detail. This defence was made both by Paul Kahle and by himself in the form of an account of his political activities in the years 1917–1929, the full text of which is appended and which was later also used by Togan himself in his autobiography.

Vasily Nikitin (1.1.1885–6.6.1960) – a former Russian consul in Urmia, Iranian studies researcher and Kurdologist – corresponded with professor Tadeusz Kowalski for over a quarter of a century. His letters sent to Krakow in the years 1922–1948 are held in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU). The aim of this article is to present the relationship of Vasily Nikitin with Polish Oriental studies and Orientalists on the basis of an analysis of the letters sent by him to Tadeusz Kowalski. The correspondence changed during this time. At the beginning, Nikitin sought help from Kowalski in finding a job at the Jagiellonian University. With time, when his financial situation in Paris – where he was in exile – stabilized, he was interested in working with Polish Orientalists at a distance. Due to Kowalski’s efforts, Nikitin became a foreign member of the Polish Oriental Society and the PAU’s Oriental Commission. Thanks to this, he received publications issued by these organizations. He also published in the oldest Polish Oriental journal – the Yearbook of Oriental Studies (Rocznik Orientalistyczny) – and in other journals.

Wojciech Biberstein-Kazimirski is a fascinating, non-typical scientist, who has nevertheless been forgotten by Polish historiography. Count Tytus Działyński immediately saw great potential in him and generously funded his studies. The trust of the Działyński family was passed on from father to son and Jan Działyński also supported the work of Kazimirski, who was certainly the greatest Polish orientalist. Kazimirski was an active patriot of the Polish insurrection. He took refuge in France where he made a respectable career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 19th century. He was awarded French citizenship and made an officer of la Légion d’honneur. He distinguished himself as a remarkable linguist and published works in a dozen languages, including the most famous French translation of the Qu’ran of all time and his French-Arabic dictionary, which are still considered among the best today. He was also an expert in oriental manuscripts. He was appreciated by the two Czartoryski princes, and the two Shahs of Iran of his time. Aft er his death, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs erected a beautiful bust on his tomb that can still be admired. However, despite all this, there is not a single accurate biography about him. On the contrary, most notices and articles do not even get the most basic things right about him, such as his name, his origin, or his religion.

This article provides a lexical and morphemic analysis of a folktale in the so far undocumented South Bashkardi dialect of Garu village, Hormozgān province, Iran. The text, which belongs to ATU 315A tale type about the so-called ‘Cannibal sister’, is presented with a tentative phonological transcription, an English translation, and a detailed glossary