Zenon Klemensiewicz

A son of Ignacy, a public official, and Kamila née Różanowicz.

In 1909, he finished middle school in Nowy Sącz and went to study at Jagiellonian University (1909–1914) where he passed the teacher’s exam. He continued his education in Freiburg and Paris (1926–1927).

During World War I, he served in the military. In 1919, he became a middle school teacher, from 1923 until his retirement (1961) he held an academic position at Jagiellonian University and became a professor there in 1939. His lectures focused on the didactics of the Polish language, as well as descriptive and historical grammar. He was the first person in Poland to receive a habilitation degree in the didactics of the Polish language (1933). During the occupation, he was a part of the underground higher education system. After the war, he ran the Polish Language Department (1947–1952) and held the position of dean of the Polish Studies Faculty (1947–1948). He took active part in the academic, cultural, educational and social life, having been a member of the Polish Academy of Learning and the Polish Academy of Sciences, the editor-in-chief of the journal “Język Polski” (“The Polish Language”) and the vice president of the Polish Teachers Union, among other. His academic interests focused on didactics, syntax, literary language, as well as language history and culture.

• Zenon Klemensiewicz, [w:] Dawne ortografie, gramatyki i podręczniki języka polskiego, Seria A, 2014.