OSW - Centre for Eastern Studies

Marek Karp was born on 2 July 1952 in Zamość. He was the son of a noble family coming from the area of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1980, he graduated from the University of Warsaw Institute of History (with a thesis on the awareness of state and regional community in medieval myths about the origins of Poland). His passions included the history of art and architecture. In the 1980s, he published papers on the history of Central Europe (through underground publishing organisations), co-created the underground periodical “Res Publica” for which he also worked as a journalist, and participated in the independent forum “Polska w Europie” (“Poland in Europe”). Between 1986 and 1990, he was head of the Main Library of Academy of Arts in Warsaw and lectured on the history of arts at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Between 1989-1991, Marek Karp worked as a researcher at the University of Warsaw Department of Baltic Studies where he specialised in the history of Lithuania. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he actively supported the Lithuanian independence movement Sajudis. During Lithuania’s critical moments he was a contact point between the Tadeusz Mazowiecki government and the Sajudis leaders.



Marek Karp developed the idea of the Centre for Eastern Studies, established in late 1990 by the Mazowiecki government, and was the Director of OSW for many years. He was an advocate of dialogue with the countries which emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. He died on 12 September 2004 during the treatment of injuries suffered as a result of a car accident which had occurred one month earlier near Biała Podlaska.


Marek Karp was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas by the Lithuanian authorities. He also received the Aleksander Gieysztor award granted by the editorial board of "Przegląd Wschodni", and the Jerzy Giedroyć award (posthumously, together with OSW). He was also awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the Polish president (posthumously) for his contribution to the development of co-operation between the nations of Central and Eastern Europe.


Marek never sought publicity. He was a modest man with a great heart, respectful to others, direct and willing to disinterestedly help other people. He will always remain a role model for us.


Marek Karp – The Director of OSW and our friend


A memory


The idea to create a Centre for Eastern Studies stemmed from Marek’s deep interest in the processes and events taking place beyond Poland’s eastern border. He possessed a broad knowledge about that area, especially about Lithuania and Belarus. He was fascinated with the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in particular the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His historical interests had been partly shaped by the tradition of many generations of the Karp family which originated from the lands of the former Duchy.


Marek developed the idea to create a Centre for Eastern Studies over many years. His meeting, in 1989 in London, with professor Stanisław Swianiewicz, a distinguished expert in the Institute for Eastern European Studies in pre-war Vilnius, finally consolidated Marek’s conviction that a similar institute was also needed in today’s Poland. Around the same time, Marek started to frequently travel to Lithuania, as though he sensed that Lithuania would be the first country to liberate itself from the Soviet regime. He was the first Pole to congratulate the Lithuanians for the parliamentary Act restoring the independence of the Lithuanian state on 11 March 1990. In summer 1990, Marek demonstrated great courage when he decided to support the Lithuanian deputies in defending the parliament building against an imminent attack of OMON forces. In January 1991, OMON stormed the Lithuanian television transmission tower. At that time Marek was in Warsaw, making enormous efforts to support the formation of the Lithuanian government in exile. The period during which Lithuania’s fate was about to be sealed was one of the most dramatic episodes in Marek’s life. He was rewarded for his commitment to Lithuania’s independence with the highest Lithuanian decoration, the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.


OSW was created in late 1990. The concept of its mission was the result of Marek’s thorough reflections and in-depth observations of the independence movements emerging in the Soviet area, as well as his intuition, which seldom failed him. It is notable that OSW was launched just before the collapse of the Soviet Union.


The OSW area of interest initially comprised the former Soviet republics. From the very start, Marek attached a particular significance to the independence aspirations of Belarus, a country so close his heart, with which he had always sympathised. He always viewed Belarus as an important partner in the relations between European countries.


OSW was not merely another state institution tasked with analysing the political and economic situation in the area east of Poland. Marek believed that in order to get to know Poland’s neighbours one needed, first and foremost, to learn about everyday life there, the culture, and the people’s expectations and fears. Marek’s attitude towards eastern affairs had been influenced by the ideas developed by the great advocate of dialogue between nations, Jerzy Giedroyć.


Marek Karp believed that OSW’s work should not be limited to monitoring the media and drafting analyses on this basis, but it should include, in his own words, "organoleptic examination", i.e. study trips to the countries in the OSW area of interest. Initially, the OSW research focused mainly on countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union, but over the years it was gradually extended to include Central Asia and the South Caucasus, followed by the Balkans and Central European countries. Marek’s research trips to Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan were a source of great joy and satisfaction for him.


Thanks to Marek’s exceptional personality, the atmosphere at OSW was unusually cordial. He was a great teacher who spoke naturally and frankly about such great ideas as patriotism, national interest or service to the home country. Marek’s interlocutors often embraced his values as their own without noticing. His conversations abounded in wise and cheerful anecdotes which appealed to people more than anything else, and in this way Marek would win their trust and respect. His unpretentious ways and uncommon sense of humour often broke the ice in conversations with high-ranking statesmen.


The fact that OSW has been named after its founder proves that the Polish political elite appreciates Marek’s commitment and OSW’s activities which have laid the foundation for Poland’s eastern policy.


Apart from OSW, Marek’s other great passion was his manor house n Ludwinów in the Polesia region, which he rebuilt from ruins. He would divide his time between his duties at OSW and work on the farm he ran together with his wife Anna. The Ludwinów manor house was where Marek would meet his friends. His guests included prominent and distinguished politicians as well as people representing the world of culture, both from Poland and abroad. Marek’s official contacts often transformed into lasting friendships. When showing his guests to the Ludwinów manor house he would always emphasise how important roots and national traditions were for him.


"Well, it was quite late that I found my place on earth, in the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (...). Geographically, it is located in the north-western corner or Polesia. Overgrown with alders, this flat terrain is damp, soaked with water. It is home to many storks and even more frogs. Everything is trivial here but, in my opinion, beautiful and sweet. This is the landscape of the promised land which my ancestors left’ and to which I managed to return." (Wprost, 27.06.1999 r.).

In 2004 Marek Karp and the Centre for Eastern Studies received the Jerzy Giedroyć Award
The award college decided to honour Marek Karp and the OSW for:
"creatively implementing, over many years, the political thought of Jerzy Giedroyć and, in particular, building bridges between Poland and its eastern neighbours, and fostering better mutual knowledge and understanding."