Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1918-1945. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych (A.11)
Extent and Medium
4,185 digital images, JPEG
Creator(s)
- Rzad Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchod?stwie
Biographical History
Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie (Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile) was established after Germany and the Soviet Union occupied Poland in September 1939. The Polish government-in-exile was first based in Paris, but moved to London after the French army surrendered to the Germans in the mid-1940s. The Allied powers accepted the government-in-exile as the legitimate representative of the Polish people soon after it was created. The Polish government allied itself with the Allied powers, as its members believed that only a total military victory over Germany would restore Poland's independence and freedom. The government-in-exile led the Polish war effort throughout World War II, and amassed its own land, air, and naval forces. In addition, it commanded the largest underground army of the war, the Armia Krajowa (the Polish Home Army). In 1942, reports about the mass murder of Jews in Poland reached London. At that point, the Polish government-in-exile made several public declarations on the subject, and officially demanded that the Allied powers stop the Germans from continuing their campaign to murder Jews, and other individuals they deemed undesirable. From December 1942 onward, the government-in-exile backed the rescue work of Zegota, which offered aid to Jews throughout occupied Poland.
Archival History
Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie
Acquisition
Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Source of acquisition is the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London, England, created by the Polish Government in Exile, records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, A.11.The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the digitized collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Programs in October 2010, and accretion in Oct. 2011.
Scope and Content
Contains selected records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish government-in-exile relating to the Polish Army in the USSR; Jews in the Polish Military Forces; desertions in Poland, USSR, North and South America, and Asia; Jewish refugees in Europe and other continents; exchange of Jews for Germans interned in the USA; Polish-Soviet relations; war crimes and criminals; medical experiments in Ravensbrück and Dachau; and the Congress of Polish Jews, organized in 1945. Documents also include correspondence of the intelligence service, encrypted dispatches, reviews of the Jewish press of 1945, speeches of General Sikorski and Minister Edward Raczynski in Washington, 1942, and name lists of prisoners of concentration camps evacuated to Sweden in 1945 (including Jews), and name lists of refugees and political prisoners.
System of Arrangement
Arrangement is thematic.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie
People
- Raczyński, Edward, 1891-1993.
- Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943.
Corporate Bodies
- Ravensbrück (Concentration camp)
- Department of Information and Press
- Rzeczpospolita Polska (Government-in-exile)
- AK-Home Army (Poland)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Poland.
- World War, 1939-1945--Governments in exile--Sources.
- Poland.
- World War, 1939-1945--Desertions--Europe.
- World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Eastern Front.
- Jewish refugees--Americas.
- Europe--Emigration and immigration--History.
- Jewish soldiers--Europe.
- Jewish refugees--Europe.
- Poland--History, Military--20th century.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Jews.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Poles.
- Jewish refugees--Asia.
- Poland--Emigration and immigration--History.
Genre
- Document
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego