Memorable Manitobans: Victor Turek (1910-1963)

Scholar.

Born at Kolbuszowa, Poland on 15 June 1910, he was educated at the Casimir Morawski Gymnasium in Przemysl and the University of Lwow, from which he graduated in 1932 with the degree of Master of Laws. In 1934 he was appointed Assistant Professor of International Private Law at the University of Lwow and served until 1940. His academic career was interrupted by the invasion of Poland by the Russian Red Army. In April 1940 he was arrested and deported to Russia. From 1943 to 1946, he served with the Polish Armed Forces in the Middle East as a public relations officer, then joined the staff of the International Refugee Organization in Lebanon.

In 1950, he and his family emigrated to Canada and settled in Winnipeg where he edited a local Polish weekly and later worked as a research fellow for the Manitoba Historical Society. The results of this work was his “Poles in Manitoba”, a comprehensive history of Polish immigrants in the province. In 1954, the family moved to Toronto where he enrolled at the University of Toronto Library School. Upon graduation, he joined the staff of the University of Toronto Library. As a member of the Catalogue Department, he held the positions of Slavic cataloguer, head of the government documents division, and head of the Union Catalogue section. He helped to found the Polish Research Institute in Canada, was joint editor of Slavica Canadiana, for which he compiled the Polish section, and contributed to the journals Canadian Slavonic Papers and Kultura.

He died of cancer in Toronto, Ontario on 18 September 1963.

His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:

Poles Among the De Meuron Soldiers
MHS Transactions, Series 3, 1952-53 Season

Sources:

Dr. Victor Turek, Manitoba Legislative Library, biographical vertical file.

Page revised: 27 February 2009

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

Search the collection by word or phrase, name, place, occupation or other text:

Custom Search

Browse surnames beginning with:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z

Browse deaths occurring in:
1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024


Send corrections and additions to this page
to the Memorable Manitobans Administrator at biographies@mhs.mb.ca

Criteria for Memorable Manitobans | Suggest a Memorable Manitoban | Firsts | Acknowledgements

Help us keep
history alive!