Historian and musicologist Prof. Marian Fuks dies at 108

The Ester Rachel and Ida Kaminska Jewish Theater in Warsaw informed about Marian Fuks's death on Facebook on Sunday (October 23). "He just celebrated his 108th birthday on September 28. He was a historian and musicology. For many years he worked at the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI), where he would focus on the history of Jews in Warsaw, history of Jewish press, culture, biographies, and the Holocaust. The versatile interests of the Professor bore fruit in over a thousand works in the field of history and culture, published in Poland and abroad!" - Jewish Theatre said.

The information about the professor's passing was confirmed on Facebook by novelist, poet, and playwright Remigiusz Grzela. Marian Fuks was also the third-oldest male in Poland and one of the 150 oldest people in the world.

Marian Fuks was born on September 28, 1914 in Płońsk. His father, Borys, was a member of the Polish Military Organisation. Fuks began journalism studies which he had to suspend due to mandatory military service in the cavalry.

After the German invasion into Poland, Fuks was drafted to the army, but did not take part in the fighting. In later stages of the war, he was imprisoned by the Soviets, accused of espionage, and transferred to Siberia. He was released from a labour camp thanks to the Sikorski-Mayski agreement (a treaty between the Soviet government and Polish government-in-exile that was signed in London on 30 July 1941, after Germany had attacked the Soviet Union).

He served as a quartermaster in the Defenders of Westerplatte 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade, and took part in Magnuszew lodgement fighting in the summer of 1944 as well as the battle of the Pomerianian Wall in February, 1945.

After WWII, Marian Fuks was promoted to reserve colonel. In 1967, he was expelled from the military as part of the anti-Semitic purge. The following year he started working at the Jewish Historical Institute. At first he would work in the Archive, and later he was the instutute director for a short period of time. He devoted his work to the history of Jews in Warsaw, history of Jewish press, culture, biographies, and the Holocaust.

An opera aficionado, Fuks located a lost village of Ubiel in present-day Belarus, which had been the birthplace of Polish composed Stanisław Moniuszko.

For 20 years he was an editor of "Biuletyn ŻIH".