Born in Stryj, from 1929, professor of history at the University of Poznań, specialist in Polish-German relations, co-founder of the Baltic Institute in Toruń, columnist of Avangarda, from 1934, founder and activist of the Union of Young Nationalists. During World War II, he was a member of the underground organisation Ojczyzna (Homeland) active in Poznań, and an ardent advocate of the regaining by Poland of the lands on the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers. After the war, he co-founded the Western Institute in Poznań, the leading Polish research institution, dealing in particular with German politics and Polish-German relations.