Stories of Rescued Archives

Donate documents

Category

The Second Polish Republic

Donated by

Piotr Leleń, anonymous donor

Signature

IPN Kr 493, IPN BU 3601

Once they were family treasures, objects, loved and cared for, but over time, deemed worthless and thrown into the trash without a thought. How many such items were lost in landfills? Thanks to the historical sensitivity of the finders, they managed to save unique artifacts related to our history from destruction.

Photographs from the personal archive of Władysław Klekot – their state after conservation

Okruchy historii – czytaj i słuchaj

A Thousand Photographs from the Private Collection of Stanisław Mierzwa

Donated by: dr Wojciech Mierzwa

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.

Listen to story

The Rescued Recollections Concerning Ignacy Paderewski

Donated by: Marcin Kapusta

During a walk in the center of Krakow, Marcin Kapusta and his son noticed a small package in a waste bin. It turned out to contain documents concerning Maria Chełkowska, a socio-political activist at the turn of the twentieth century, who was a friend of Ignacy Paderewski.

Read story

Activists from Bialystok

Donated by: Zofia Wałuszko

“Klimkiewicz is making efforts to unite female office workers, telephone operators and other white collar workers under one union (the Union of Polish Working Women) and for the fusion of that ‘union’ with the National Women’s Organization” – as written about Jadwiga Klimkiewicz in 1927 by the Bialystok press.

Read story