Hidden History: Documents of the [Polish] Home Army Found in Warsaw’s Żoliborz District

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The Period of War and Occupation

Donated by

Irmina Małgorzata Sobczuk

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IPN BU 2388

Infinite is the number of the places where archives of the underground from WWII as well as after the war are hidden. One example of rescued treasures are documents of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), buried in two glass jars in the garden of a house in Warsaw’s Żoliborz district.

Home Army [AK] documents found during gardening work at a Warsaw home in the mid-1980s

Okruchy historii – czytaj i słuchaj

Wermacht and Schupo [Schutzpolizei] Units in Warsaw Documented in Photographs

Donated by: Wiesław Skiba

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.

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“People Are My Topic”: The Julien Bryan Collection in Warsaw

Donated by: Sam Bryan

“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.

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Martyrology of Poles in Volhynia [Wołyń] during World War II in the Light of a Letter from Brother Cyprian Lasoń

Donated by: Stanisław Kozak

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.

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