Early life and education Adam Heydel was the son of Zdzisław and Maria Heydel, his brother named Wojciech. He was a student at
John III Sobieski High School and later studied in
Moscow and
Kiev. In 1922 he studied law at the
Jagiellonian University, where he got his
doctorate. In the years 1921–1922 he worked in the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1925 he got a
habilitation in the field of
political economy. Two years later he became a lecturer of economics at the Jagiellonian University.
Scholarly work and political activism Together with
Adam Krzyżanowski and
Ferdinand Zweig he became a follower of the Cracow School of Economics, which advocated free market reforms. Heydel was familiar with western economic developments, particularly with the
Austrian School and the economists of
Ludwig von Mises and
Friedrich von Hayek. He criticised the arguments concerning the
general level of prices made by
Joseph Schumpeter despite his personal friendship with him, as well as the monetary doctrines of
Irving Fisher. Heydel considered himself a
nationalist and was sympathetic to the
National Democratic movement and in the years 1930–1931 he led the National club in Cracow. He was critical of
Sanation and due to this he was removed from the economics department at the Jagiellonian University and proceeded to become a director of the economics institute at the
Academy of Learning.
Second World War Heydel was arrested on 6 November 1939 as a part of the operations of
Sonderaktion Krakau and with other academics he was placed
Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Due to international pressure Heydel was released from the camp together with other academics which reached 40 years of age. After his release he got involved in the
Union of Armed Struggle and on 23 of January 1941 he was arrested by the
Gestapo. After refusing to sign the
Volksliste he was moved to Auschwitz where he was murdered in a mass-shooting. == Works ==