B. 1930; MA in economic history 1954, PhD 1960 and post-doctoral degree (habilitacja) 1964 (all at the Central School of Planning and Statistics - SGPiS); associate professor since 1972, full professor since 1980. Worked at the SGPiS in 1950-1954 as deputy assistant lecturer and assistant lecturer (Department of Economic History); post-doctoral student at the Institute of Social Sciences, Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party 1954-1956; senior lecturer and head of the Institute of Political Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences 1965-1970; Institute of Political Sciences, University of Warsaw 1970-1990 – as assistant professor, associate professor and full professor since 1980; Since 1990 at the Institute of History, University of Warsaw; head of the Mordechai Anielewicz Center for the Study and Teaching of the History and Culture of Jews. Member of the Advisory Board of the Jewish Historical Institute since 1970; member of the Management Board of the Jewish Historical Institute since 1985; member of the editorial committee of the Institute’s Bulletin and of Polish Studies in Polish Jewry; professor emeritus since 2002; contracted lectures at the IH UW; professor at the School of the National Economy in Kutno since 2003.
Z dziejów Polesia 1921-1939. Zarys stosunków społeczno-ekonomicznych, Warszawa 1963; Gospodarka Polski międzywojennej 1918-1939, Warszawa, t. 1 1967, t. 2 1971, t. 3 1982, t. 4 1989 (wspólnie z Z. Landauem); Robotnicy przemysłowi w Polsce. Materialne warunki bytu 1918-1939, Warszawa 1971 (wspólnie z Z. Landauem); The Polish Economy in Twentieth Century, New York 1985 (wspólnie z Z. Landauem); Wirtschaftsgeschichte Polens im 19 und 20 Jahrhundert, Berlin 1986 (wspólnie z Z. Landauem); Bułgaria 1944-1971. Trudna droga do socjalizmu, Warszawa 1989; The Socialist Regimes of East Central Europe. Their Establishment and Consolidation 1944-1967, London and New York 1983; Monachium 1938. Polskie dokumenty dyplomatyczne, Warszawa 1985 (wspólnie z Z. Landauem); Zarys dziejów Żydów w Polsce w latach 1918-1939, Warszawa 1990; Mniejszości narodowe w Polsce XX wieku, Warszawa 1991; Najnowsze dzieje Żydów w Polsce w zarysie do 1950 r., Warszawa 1993 (współautorstwo); Czechosłowacja, Warszawa 1997; Preludium zagłady. Wygnanie Żydów polskich z Niemiec w 1938 r., Warszawa 1998;Izrael, Warszawa 2003 (wspólnie z A.Chojnowskim); Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA 1929-1999, Warszawa (wspólnie z Z.Landauem);Auftakt zur Vernichtung. Die Vertreibung polnischer Juden aus Deutschland im Jahre 1938, Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau.