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English
No. 17 (2024)
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Foreword
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 11-14
PDF (Język Polski)
Archival repository 
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Historical Sources of the Silesian Voivodeship Police and Officers in the Archival Repository of the Institute of National Remembrance
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 15-28
The Silesian Voivodeship Police (Policja Województwa Śląskiego, PWŚl.) was a uniformed formation of the security services existing in the Śląsk region of the Second Polish Republic. It reported to the Silesian Voivodeship rather than the State Police Headquarters in Warsaw. The article has the character of an archival reconnaissance. Using specific examples from the IPN archival repository, it presents materials that are helpful to any historian researching the history of the above-mentioned unit. The documentation presented also makes it possible to trace the fate of particular officers of the unit during their pre-war service or during World War II, when many policemen were victims of the Katyn massacre or had to serve in the Polish Police [colloquially known as the “Blue Police”] under the occupying Germans, as well as after 1945, when most of the former officers of the Voivodeship Police faced communist repression.
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The Women’s Auxiliary Service (1940–1947) in the Photographic Collections of the IPN Digital Archive
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 29-46
The Women’s Auxiliary Service was a female volunteer formation operating within the structures of the Polish Armed Forces (PSZ) in the West. It was formed in the autumn of 1941 within the PSZ in the USSR. Volunteers travelled the entire combat route with Gen. Władysław Anders’ army. They served in hospitals, operated canteens and clubrooms, ran offices, warehouses, kitchens, and laundries, as well as supporting the soldiers of the II Polish Corps in battles in Italy, including the Battle of Monte Cassino. After the end of hostilities, they were relocated with the II Polish Corps to the British Isles. The process of decommissioning the unit – as with all PSZ units – began in 1947. The multimedia module in the IPN Digital Archive contains a photographic collection on the PSK consisting of 146 images. Some of these come from the collections of private individuals and others from the repositories of various institutions and organisations. They show the activities, nature of the service, training, and the daily life of the female volunteers. The photographs are an important addition to the file documentation, most of which is held at the Polish Institute and General Sikorski Museum in London.
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Materials from the First Alert of the Chief of the Polish Scouting Association in the Institute of National Remembrance Archival Repository: An Outline of the Issues and an Attempt at Their Analysis
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 47-72
In April 1965, the head of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego, ZHP) conducted the First Scouting Alert – the “Scouting Spring Reconnaissance.” It was a several-day, nationwide, centrally directed action aimed, among other things, at finding and commemorating World War II sites of memory (monuments, memorial plaques, cemeteries, forest graves, etc.). Some 900,000 Polish Scouts and Guides took part. They drew up reports in the tens of thousands, which the ZHP then handed over to the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland. Among other things, that institution used them to supplement its records of German crime scenes in Poland. After the liquidation of the Main Commission, its archival repository, including the Alert materials, became the property of the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. Discussed in the article are basic issues related to the political and ideological background of the Alert, its preparation and implementation, and the use of the action for propaganda by the communist authorities. It focuses on an analysis of the reports produced by Scouts and Guides from the Gdańsk City Poviat, containing, among other things, information on the categories of objects registered and sources of information obtained, as well as on errors occurring in the cards.
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Combines, Ships, and Oil: Sources for the Industrial History of Płock in the National Archive Repository in Płock
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 73-92
After World War II, Płock became an important industrial centre. Apart from the factories that had been operating there up to that time, such as the Harvest Machine Factory and the Płock River Shipyard, the construction of the Mazovian Refinery and Petrochemical Plant began in 1959. The petrochemical plant changed the face of the city and resulted in rapid population growth and previously unprecedented infrastructure development. The location of Petrochemia in Płock contributed to the establishment of further industrial plants in the city, including Petrobudowa Industrial Construction Company (Przedsiębiorstwo Budownictwa Przemysłowego „Petrobudowa”), Mostostal Steel Structure and Industrial Construction Company (Przedsiębiorstwo Konstrukcji Stalowych i Urządzeń Przemysłowych „Mostostal”), the Bridge Works Company (Przedsiębiorstwo Robót Mostowych), the Izokor-Instal Thermal Insulation and Corrosion Protection Works Company (Przedsiębiorstwo Robót Termoizolacyjnych i Antykorozyjnych „Izokor-Instal”), the Cotex Knitwear Industry Works (Zakłady Przemysłu Dziewiarskiego „Cotex”), and several others. This article discusses the content and significance of archival materials from “People’s” Poland relating to industry in Płock, which are currently held in the archival repository of the State Archive in Płock, as well as the research opportunities hidden in those materials.
Source edition
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Edition of Court Documents Concerning NKVD Officers Convicted of Abuses During the Great Terror: Context of the Issues and Conclusions
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 93-108
From 2014‒2022, an international group of historians committed themselves to the research and publishing project Czekiści na ławie oskarżonych. Echa Wielkiego Terroru (The Chekists in the Defendants’ Dock: Echoes of the Great Terror). Researched for the first time in the historiography were the issues around the bringing of NKVD officers of the Ukrainian SSR to justice – the enforcers of mass political repression during the Great Terror of 1937–1938, on charges of violating the socialist rule of law. The result of the undertaking was a three-volume source edition entitled Vidlunnia Velykoho teroru. Zbirnyk dokumentiv u tr’okh tomakh (Echoes of the Great Terror: A Collection of Documents in Three Volumes). The second volume, the largest in terms of size, contains court documents from 1939–1943 concerning the criminal responsibility of officers who violated the socialist rule of law. The published research studies and archival materials make it possible to establish not only the enforcers of mass terror in the USSR in 1937–1938, but also their methods, the types of acts they committed, the circumstances under which some perpetrators were categorised as “violators of the socialist rule of law,” and the nature and consequences of the purges carried out in the NKVD central apparatus and regional bodies in the Ukrainian SSR.
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The Full Edition of the Ringelblum Archive: Could It Have Been Done Differently?
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 109-128
This article discusses the history of “Oneg Szabat”/“Ojneg Szabes” (Oyneg Shabbos), a clandestine scholarly project documenting the extermination of the Jews from 1939–1943, conceived and carried out in the Warsaw Ghetto by a group of some fifty to sixty people under the direction of historian Emanuel Ringelblum. The complex structure of the surviving Ringelblum Archive and the history of earlier editions of its contents in Poland and Israel are discussed. Presented are the principles of the edition adopted after 2007, resulting from the decision to publish the entire collection. Justification is given for supplementing the series with material from other collections, especially Ringelblum’s writings. The different approaches to the publication of the preserved pre-war materials are explained, as well as the legacies of the creators of the archive. Problems related to the publication of underground press in and outside the ghetto, including the dispute with Yad Vashem, are described. The way in which some editorial problems were solved, such as those concerning the inclusion of facsimiles of document texts, is outlined. Also pointed out is the need to take into account new technological possibilities in order to disseminate knowledge about the archive and make extensive use of its materials for research and education.
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The Breslauer Apokalypse 1945… of Horst G.W. Gleiss: The Most Important “Source Edition” for Research into the History of Festung Breslau: History – Research Guidelines – Memory
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 129-146
Horst G.W. Gleiss’s ten-volume work Breslauer Apokalypse 1945. Dokumentarchronik vom Todeskampf und Untergang einer deutschen Stadt und Festung am Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der internationalen Presseforschung, persönlicher Erlebnisberichte von Augenzeugen und eigenen Tagebuchaufzeichnungen was published in the years 1986–1997. For its 12,183 pages, the author collected 14,517 documents as well as quotations showing the history of Wrocław and the surrounding vicinity in the year 1945. In the article, the strengths and weaknesses of Breslauer Apokalypse 1945… are briefly presented along with an outline of how to use it, and attention is drawn to publications that supplement the content of the source collection under discussion. Additionally, the most significant problems and errors of researchers dealing with the history of Festung Breslau (the Siege of Breslau) are pointed out. The most important of these include the omission of Gleiss’s work or its inaccurate usage, as well as faulty bibliographic entries. The text also draws attention to the scholarly and non-scholarly role of the analysed collection, which was to strengthen the communal experience of the Germans who were former inhabitants of Wrocław.
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Reflections on the Topic of Editing NSZZ “Solidarność” Historical Sources
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 147-162
Much of the NSZZ Solidarity material, or more broadly – material concerning its history, has yet to be published. The situation is definitely better for the period the union was legally active than for its later underground struggle. However, even here we can speak about serious deficiencies, because apart from the documents of the national authorities (National Coordinating Commission: Krajowa Komisja Porozumiewawcza, KKP; National Commission: Komisja Krajowa, KK; or the First National Delegates Convention: I Krajowy Zjazd Delegatów, I KZD), it was not possible to publish many important sources, especially from regional level structures. The problem looks worse for editing sources concerning the underground activity of the Union, e.g., the meetings of its leaders, which – for obvious reasons – were not registered (recorded), nor were minutes taken. The chief problem in preparing sources of Solidarity provenance for print appears at the very beginning of the work and is connected to the considerable dispersion of archival materials. Nevertheless, it is still possible to publish new valuable archival materials for the history of Solidarity, especially from the so-called Solidarity “carnival” [the sixteen month period of agreement with the authorities before martial law was enacted]. Paradoxically, materials produced in the course of the work of the Security Service, which documented the activities of the Union it was combatting (surveilling), will be helpful in this. However, in order to compile and publish new source books, interested institutions and money are needed. In view of the lack of funds for the activities of the extremely deserving Society of Solidarity Archives in this matter, the Institute of National Remembrance, first and foremost, seems to be such an institution, as one which has cooperated with the aforementioned society for over a decade.
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The Polish Diplomatic Papers Series: Source Editing Issues in the History of Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 163-180
Sources on the history of Polish foreign policy in both the Second Polish Republic, including the period of World War II (the Polish government-in-exile), as well as “People’s” Poland are published in the series Polskie Dokumenty Dyplomatyczne (Polish Diplomatic Papers), issued by the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM). Since 2005, thirty volumes have been published, as well as their supplementary editions, and work is currently underway on a further nine volumes. As a result, the series has become a collection of sources without which it is impossible to imagine research on the history of Polish diplomacy and foreign policy in the twentieth century. The history of the project is discussed in the article, as well as its legal and organisational framework and key editorial decisions taken by the editorial committee. PISM’s activities related to the series are shown against the background of cooperation with publishers of diplomatic documents from other countries. Difficulties concerning the dispersion and inadequate state of preservation of Polish archival materials are touched on. Also approached is the issue of the publication of documents only available on the Internet and those created solely in electronic format. Additionally mentioned are the difficulties affecting editors of Polish classified materials produced after 1990.
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The Legal and Ethical Problems of Using Twentieth Century Archival Materials in Historical Research
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 181-194
Ethical problems related to the conduct of research into contemporary history are discussed in this article; also identified are the fundamental legal acts which shape the rules of access to materials collected in archives and the usage of those. An analysis is made of the provisions of the Act of 14 July 1983 concerning national archival repositories and archives, and of the Act of 18 December 1998 concerning the Institute of National Remembrance, as well as other acts affecting access to archival materials. Restrictions arise, among other things, from the existence of archival materials, which are made accessible after a certain period of time. These include vital statistic and notarial records, or medical, court, or employee documentation. The right to the protection of personal data and personal interests is another essential element in determining the use of files. Also important for these considerations are files held in autonomous archives and covered by legislation for the protection of classified information. In turn, the ethics of research into recent history is shaped by a number of factors: historical research methodology skills, the choice of research topic, attitude towards the historical figures or events under investigation, or legal provisions. The analysis of the past treated as an attempt to understand it leads to a constant search for new sources enabling the modification of familiar historiographical theses. Knowledge of history can therefore be treatedas a form of continuous discussion about it, evolving on the basis of new research findings.
Education
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Immersive History Education at the Institute of National Remembrance
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 195-216
Discussed in this article are the ways in which modern educational channels can be used to teach the contemporary history of Poland. It explains the mechanisms for the introduction of immersive projects by public institutions, the motivations for these measures, and the opportunities and risks associated with this process. Based on the example of initiatives undertaken by the New Technology Division (Biuro Nowych Technologii, BNT) of the Institute of National Remembrance, the proces of the realisation and introduction of immersive projects in history education and the accompanying dialogue with representatives of the so-called millennial generation and generation Z is presented. Examples of fruitful cooperation between archives and historians are also pointed out. As a result, the projects developed at BNT are not only educationally interesting and based on the current state of historical knowledge, but also illustrate topics through the use of sources.
History
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Władysław Anders: Memory and Politics
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 217-232
In the opinion of Poles, General Władysław Anders embodies the best values of heroism and patriotism, along with devotion to the cause of the Homeland. He was the founder of the Polish Army in the USSR, commander of the II Polish Corps, and victor in the battles for Monte Cassino and Ancona. After the war, he was the undisputed leader of the Polish political emigration. The authorities in Warsaw ferociously attacked him for his resolutely anti-communist stance for nearly half a century after the war. Discussed in the article are the most important examples of such overt and covert actions taken during the general’s lifetime and after his death. These included propaganda attacks in publications, the press, and in public spaces, accusations of treason, embezzlement of finances, and even of contributing to the death of General Władysław Sikorski. Any voices of dissent or simply the defence of Anders’ good name and person were suppressed by the omnipotent censors. Corresponding covert activities were carried out by the security service, which tried to reach Anders’ milieu and influence his standing. The second part of the text attempts to answer to what extent or in what areas the above-described activities influenced the consciousness and collective memory of Poles.
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The Criminal Liability Problem of Stasi Informers after German Reunification
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 233-250
In East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR), denunciations to the Stasi were submitted not only by citizens of that state, but also from citizens of West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany, FRG). They most frequently concerned people who planned to flee the country, being unable to leave it legally, who conducted activities for which they were suspected of spying, or for acts of anti-state agitation. The denunciations instigated criminal proceedings against accused persons, starting with their arrest and ending with a sentence – typically for many years in prison. The principle of “uniform illegality” was adopted after the reunification of Germany as the starting point for establishing if and what crimes were committed by informers in GDR. It assumed that if a judgment of a GDR court concluding a trial instigated by an informer with their denunciation, was legal, the informer could not be held criminally responsible for their actions after the unification. However, the model of liability was based on a penal provision, enacting it for the offense of causing the political persecution of a given person through denunciation to the Stasi. If the denounced was subsequently sentenced to imprisonment, their persecutor was also responsible for the unlawful deprivation of liberty. Under totalitarian systems in Germany, as a result of such denunciations, tens of thousands of people were deprived of their liberty, and in thousands of cases – of their lives. In FRG, as a state ruled by law, a total of 660 informers to the political police were sentenced for their actions in the period of National Socialism and only five for informing the Stasi.
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The Kuril Islands Dispute: A Legal and Historical Analysis as Seen from the Japanese Perspective
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 251-276
This article presents the Japanese legal and historical perspective on the Kuril Islands dispute. Undoubtedly, the conflict between Japan and Russia about this group of islands north of Hokkaidō is one of the most significant territorial issues in present-day international relations. Despite many attempts to find a middle ground, the dispute has not been resolved in over sixty-eight years. It also affects the diplomatic stalemate, namely the unsettled question of a peace treaty between Tokyo and Moscow. Successive Japanese cabinets have claimed that the southern part of the Kuril Islands (called the “Northern Territory” in Japanese) has been illegally occupied by Russia since the end of the Pacific War. To comprehend this statement and thus understand the Japanese position, it is necessary to analyse the Japanese arguments based on legal acts, historical documents, and research. Since the article only outlines the Japanese perspective on this matter, the geographical terminology used is from Japanese, in order to comprehensively introduce the position of that side.
Documents
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The Escape of Prisoners from Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in the Account of Janusz Tusiński, Former Conspirator of the Military Organisation Lizard Union
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 277-304
Related in this article is the account of Janusz Tusiński (1918–1998), former soldier of the Military Organisation Lizard Union of District X in Łódź, on his escape from the Auschwitz- Birkenau German concentration camp. The account has not drawn particular interest thus far from historians. This is a pity, because the document, produced thirty-five years after the end of World War II, is remarkable for its great empirical value. Its author wrote about his wartime fate with remarkable precision – from the moment of his arrest by functionaries of the State Secret Police in Łódź on 29 March 1943, through his time in KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, until the end of the German occupation of Łódź on 19 January 1945. The experience he poured out onto paper is today a valuable source of knowledge on the topic of conditions prevailing in the death camp, as well as of the functioning of underground organisations there.
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“A Totally Foreign Body”: Military Chaplaincy in the Light of Polish Army Political Affairs Directorate Documents from 1962–1964
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 305-346
Military chaplaincy in the Armed Forces of the People’s Republic of Poland aroused controversy. In a socio-political system based on Soviet models that fought against religion and the institutional Catholic Church, the activities of military chaplains were judged politically harmful by party dogmatists. Initially, however, the chaplaincy was needed by the communists to legitimise their power – among other things, it gave the appearance of continuing the heritage of the Polish Army and served as a tool of indoctrination and propaganda. However, as the regime solidified and the parallel radicalisation of religious policy in the People’s Republic of Poland proceeded, its functioning became increasingly problematic. This situation was exacerbated by the decline of pastoral ministry, which reached its apogee in the second half of the 1950s. At the beginning of the next decade, in this situation military and political agencies took steps not only to analyse the activity of this unit, but also – if the situation required – to liquidate it as a “totally foreign body” in the People’s Polish Army. In the end, it was decided to keep the unit within the structure of the PRL armed forces, but it became almost entirely subject to the Bureau for Religious Affairs, which implemented the directives of the nexus of power in the area of Church-state relations. This edition of documents deals with the phenomena mentioned. It is presented from the perspective of selected materials of the Political Affairs Directorate of the Polish Army (Główny Zarząd Polityczny Wojska Polskiego) from 1962–1964, published in full for the first time.
Reviews and discussions
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Velký teror na Ukrajinĕ 1937–1938: perzekuce české menšiny / Velykyy teror v Ukrayini 1937–1938 rr.: peresliduvannya ches’koyi menshyny, ed. Jan Dvořák, Anna Chlebina, Andrij Kohut and Anna Morhun, Prague, 2023, 1,024 pp.
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 347-352
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Wojciech Jerzy Muszyński, Bolesław Piasecki. Początki drogi (1915–1944), Warsaw, 2023, 680 pp. + illustrations
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 353-362
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Tomasz Szczepański, Funkcjonariusze i pracownicy więziennictwa RP zabici w zbrodni katyńskiej, Warsaw, 2024, 243 pp., unpag.
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 363-370
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Paweł Sękowski, Imigranci polscy we Francji 1939–1949. Ciąg dalszy integracji, Warsaw, 2023, 448 pp.
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 371-379
Chronicle
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Opening of the exhibit “The Path and the Legacy: A History of the Moszoro Family / Camino y Legado. Historia de la Familia Moszoro,” Warsaw, 4 September 2024
Przegląd Archiwalny Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, No. 17 (2024), pages: 381-386
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