Jan Daniluk

University of Gdańsk

Profile at home institution
Duration of Stay: April 2026 | Visiting Fellow based at the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, Landshuter Str. 4
Lecture as part of the Research Colloquium of the Chair of European History (Prof. Liedtke): Tuesday 14 Apr 2026, 16:00-18:00, VG 0.04 (Vielberth Building, UR) | Gambling in the German Reich (1933-1944)

Dr. Jan Daniluk is a historian and lecturer at the Faculty of History, University of Gdańsk, where he serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Gdańsk, Pomerania, and the Baltic Region. He specialises in twentieth-century European history, with a particular focus on the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of leisure, gambling, and urban life.

Born in Gdańsk in 1984, Dr. Daniluk studied history at the University of Gdańsk (2004–2009) and was awarded a PhD in 2017 from the same institution with a dissertation on the militarisation of Gdańsk during the Second World War, reflecting his long-standing interest in the history of the German Reich and wartime societies.

Alongside his academic career, he has held research and curatorial positions at major institutions, including the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, and the Museum of Sopot, as well as serving as Director of the University of Gdańsk Museum. These roles reflect his strong engagement with public history and heritage.

During his research stay at the University of Regensburg (2026–2027), Dr. Daniluk will pursue a project on “Gambling in the German Reich (1933–1944)”. His work investigates casinos as highly institutionalised spaces of leisure and state control, focusing in particular on Baden-Baden and Baden near Vienna, as well as the system of Reichsspielbanken during the Second World War. Drawing on extensive press sources and regional publications available in Regensburg, he aims to analyse the economic, social, and political significance of gambling in the Nazi period, as well as its impact on local communities and urban development.

More broadly, Dr. Daniluk’s research explores the history of gambling and leisure, the development of cities and regions, and the interaction between local societies and state authorities. He adopts a comparative and transnational perspective, situating European developments alongside the rise of gambling centres in the United States, such as Las Vegas.

He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular publications on the history of Gdańsk and Sopot, including SS w Gdańsku (2013) and Miasta skoszarowane (2019), as well as co-author of works on urban and cultural history. His recent and forthcoming work on the Sopot casino (1919–1944), including a bilingual monograph (2026), represents a major contribution to the emerging field of gambling studies in modern European history.