On 20 November 2023, a press conference was held at the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Warsaw to announce the transfer of documents collected and produced during more than a century of activity of the Union of Poles in Germany to the IPN, as part of the ‘Archive Full of Remembrance’ project.
Several hundred metres of files and documents about the activities of Poles are being transferred to the IPN Archive. They also record the truth about the fate of the Polish nation beyond our western border”, said IPN President Dr Karol Nawrocki at the conference.
He stressed that the documents would be processed by professional archivists undergoing restoration, it would be digitised and made available to those who were interested, i.e. to journalists and researchers, “ensuring that this history would never fall into the well of oblivion”.
Anna Wawrzyszko, vice-president of the Union of Poles in Germany, emphasised the importance of national memory and cultural heritage, which we are dealing with precisely thanks to the Union.
The IPN Archive will receive not only paper documents, but also photographs, sound recordings and films.
The Association of Poles in Germany was founded on 27 August 1922. The organisation played an important role in preserving the national consciousness of Poles living in the German area, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. Poles created a strong institution, active in the political, social, cultural and economic fields, built their banks, co-operatives, enterprises, schools, kindergartens, libraries, published books, newspapers and magazines in Germany.
The union’s dynamic development was halted by Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. From then on, Poles were subjected to massive repression and terror, including assassinations, and Polish institutions were attacked and destroyed. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the Germans deprived the Poles of their minority status, the activities of the Association were banned and property was seized and confiscated.
Adrian Andrzejewski