Various items for downloading, mainly in the .pdf format



There are several items here for viewing and/or downloading.

First, there is a copy of my essay about my father, which I call Stefan Drobot - a personal perspective. It is basically his biography, with a number of my side comments. It also provides some background material on the times and circumstances of various events that shaped his (and my) life. I was not particularly close to him, but he influenced my life quite a bit. You can see it in the .pdf form by clicking here:
Stefan Drobot - a personal perspective

Secondly, there is a compendium of the material on Stefan held by the Polish secret service. Just about every citizen in Poland had a file like that, locked in the bowels of the security apparatus. I provide copies of everything I have, together with their translation into English. I also describe how the documents came to my possession etc. These can be found by clicking on:
Secret police dossier

Next is a copy of his "official" obituary. It was published by the Polish Mathematical Society, in their journal Wiadomosci Matematyczne 35, No.1, (1999), pp. 209-212. It was authored by his former students Wacław Kasprzak and Roscisław Rabczuk. The journal in question is the house publication of the Society. It does have some mathematics in it, but it also publishes news about deaths, promotions, Ph.D.'s awarded, recognitions etc. I provide two copies: One, the original, is in Polish, and the other is my translation into English.
Obituary in Wiadomosci, English
Obituary in Wiadomosci, Polish

There is also plenty of material on the webpage devoted to the Djament family, maintained by my cousin Adam Rutkowski. It is worth a visit, if you are interested in the subject.
A site dedicated to the Djament family

Next is an essay about my mother Natalie, or Nata as she was invariably called by her family. It was meant to be analogous to the essay about my father, except that it should be described as an "oral history." In the case of my father I made an effort to rely on the written documents and communications from other people. In this essay I rely, almost exclusively, on the bullshit sessions we had, and stories she told me during these. She was my mother, but she was also a pretty good friend, and we did talk about a wide range of topics.
Nata Drobot - an oral history and gossip

Next essay is about Stefan's Ph.D., which he got in 1947. He did not get the actual diploma, and there was a bit of a misunderstanding regarding his advisor. This misunderstanding was entirely my fault. I describe all this in the essay below. In addition, I provide copies of the original documents relating to the subject matter, together with their translations to English.
Musing on Stefan's Ph. D.

The next item is an annotated copy of my sister's Kathy diary/journal, which she kept when she was 9 years old and in the second grade in Wrocław. It was a custom then, I understand, to have such journal. You would give it to your friends and they would write something for "posterity," so to say, so Kathy would remember them. The diary came over together with us to the United States and eventually ended up in the possession of Kathy's daughter, Nathalie. She made a photo of all the pages, and I provide the translation of these, together with my comments and reminiscences,
Translation of Kathy's diary