Andrzej Sakson is a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 sociologist and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

. Since 2004 he has been the director of the Western Institute

Western Institute

The Western Institute in Poznań is a scientific research society focusing on the Western provinces of Poland - Kresy Zachodnie , history, economy and politics of Germany, and the Polish-German relations in history and today.Established by...

 (Instytut Zachodni) in Poznań

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

.

Sakson is a professor of sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 at the Institute of Sociology of Adam Mickiewicz University (Instytut Socjologi UAM) in Poznań, and the Western Institute. He specializes in research on national and ethnic minorities, with special focus on the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 minority in Poland and the Polish ethnic groups of Mazurians and Warmians in the north-eastern Polish region of Warmia-Masuria.