Adam Kersten

A historian within the writing team

Adam Kersten co-wrote The Deluge with Jerzy Hoffman and Wojciech Żukrowski, and supervised its historical consultation¹. He participated in creating the adaptation, rather than only assessing the completed film.

In an account excerpted by SFP, film historian Tadeusz Lubelski identifies Kersten’s task as maintaining consistency with knowledge of the seventeenth-century war².

Books before and after the adaptation

Kersten published his Stefan Czarniecki, 1599–1665 in 1963 and Sienkiewicz – “Potop” – historia in 1966. Szwedzi pod Jasną Górą 1655 appeared in 1975, after the film’s release. He had previously consulted on Colonel Wołodyjowski³. The chronology distinguishes his earlier expertise from the later siege study.

Using his research while watching

Compare Czarniecki, played by Wiesław Gołas, and Kordecki’s actions. Participants’ accounts and surviving letters help establish events; Sienkiewicz’s text explains characters’ literary significance.

The historian’s biography

Kersten (1930–1983) worked at UMCS and researched the seventeenth century⁴. His separate historian biography also discusses independent education and publishing. Continue with Jasna Góra: history, novel and film.