Scraps of History – read and listen

Michał Münnich was a Polish officer who travelled a long road from the Austrian army, to the Polish army. In the years 1918–1920, he fought for the independence of Poland. Nevertheless, the communist regime did not acknowledge his service for the Homeland.

Discover the history of a fight for the independence of Poland through the eyes of a soldier. Writing his memoirs fifty years after the end of [the First World War], Stefan Szyłkiewicz did not expect that his desire to save his wartime participation from obscurity would bring reprisals against him and his family.

Stanisław Mierzwa was one of the closest co-workers of Polish Prime Minister Wincenty Witos. His personal archive includes a collection of almost one thousand exceptional photographs illustrating the history of the peasant movement in Poland, as well as the socio-political activity of Mierzwa himself.

In 2010, IPN purchased a collection of unique photographs taken between 1939 and 1941 from Wiesław Skiba of Luxembourg. Part of the photographs show the Wermacht and Schutzpolizei units of Nazi Germany entering Warsaw.Others depict daily life under occupation from the perspective of the invaders.

“Most important in the story of Warsaw besieged are not ruined buildings or guns or German bombers overhead. Most important in that story is what happened to the inhabitants of Warsaw. [...]” These words of American photojournalist Julien Bryan perfectly describe the character of his collection at IPN.

The moving account of Brother Cyprian Lasoń of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites tells the story of a massacre of Poles from the Krzemieniec district of Volhynia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army [UPA]. The monk depicts the tragic situation of people hidden in a monastery, whom only a miracle can save.

Wanda Madler, a pre-war teacher and director of a junior high school, despite abysmal sufferings experienced in the Lublin Castle prison and at the KL Ravensbrück concentration camp, did not stop teaching.

Aleksander Martyniec, was a soldier in the (Polish) Home Army. He arrived at KL Auschwitz with the very first transport. After spending three years at the camp, he managed to escape. Discover the story of the bravery and determination of this escapee, as well as the fortuitous circumstances of his daring.

For Karol Angerman, the German invasion of Poland meant the beginning of wanderings that would last for thousands of kilometers. He served in the [Polish] Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade and became a chronicler of its history, but his ‘notes’ were taken not by pen, but a more modern tool – a photographic camera.

Wanda Barbara Kociuba was one of hundreds of thousands of Polish children for whom WWII and Soviet deportations meant that the world they knew ceased to exit. During her stay in Siberia (USSR), Iran and Lebanon, Basia wrote a diary – by her own admission – ''for her future children and grandchildren”.

As a result of the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939, many Poles were forced to leave their homes. Their personal documents, letters, photographs – usually of high sentimental value – travelled with them. One of these is a letter of Second Lieutenant Włodzimierz Łańcucki, victim of the Katyn Massacre.

The preserved source materials show the extraordinary biography of Julian Gruner – a heroic soldier, track and field champion, and outstanding doctor. Gruner was the head of a military hospital in Stanisławów, when he was captured by the Soviet Red Army on September 19, 1939 and sent to a POW camp in Starobielsk.

On January 21, 1949, in a prison hospital on Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw, Halina Walicka gave birth to a daughter, Elżbieta Amelia. Her father was another prisoner of this infamous prison for political detainees, Lieutenant Wacław Walicki. He never saw his daughter.

Eugeniusz Siemaszko, born in Vilnius. During WWII he joined the ‘Grey Ranks’ and fought in Operation Ostra Brama [the Vilnius Uprising]. His ‘archive of Polishness’ is a rich and varied collection of memorabilia documenting the fight for Poland’s independence in the Vilnius region during WWII.

Two tons was the weight of the archival materials of the Polish Falcons of America, loaded on a ship that sailed from America to Poland – to the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw. It is a unique and invaluable collection documenting the history of American Polonia [the Polish diaspora in the US

The diaries of Antoni Macheta, an NCO in the Polish Army, possess not only historical value, but also literary. Author, as an eyewitness of all the events documented in the diaries, did not limit himself to a straightforward account. His diaries also contain a record of his personal opinions thatwent with those.

Franciszek Wilk, a notable activist in the peasant movement, was an exceptionally brave person, though at the same time modest and selfless. His archive includes invaluable documents and photographs illustrating, among others, the history of the peasant movement in Poland and political life in exile.

Jan Perejczuk was an important activist of NSZZ ‘Solidarność’ [Independent Self-Governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’] in the Bydgoszcz region from its very beginnings until the collapse of the communism.

Zenon Szendo was an activist of NSZZ „Solidarność” [Independent Self-Governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’] in Lodz, KPN [Confederation of Independent Poland] and the Committee for the Defense of those Imprisoned for their Beliefs (Komitet Obrony Więzionych za Przekonania) and co-creator of the Provisional Council for t

A remarkable chronicle of daily life in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s was captured by Jan Hausbrandt – photojournalist and artist-photographer. The collection shows the true face of communism: the long lineups, the drabness of the streets, laborers at work, poverty and drunkenness, but also hope, joy, and faith.