Archive

New documents reveal WWII may have started in Silesia and NOT Westerplatte or Wieluń

In the first telegram sent at 7.32 am, bearing the signature A II 9/21, Lieutenant Colonel Zdon from the II division of the Kraków Army wrote: "On the direct outskirts of Rybnik, the contact of our units with the enemy was detected around 3.14am, 30 tanks." Polish Institute and Museum Gen. Sikorski in London

Discovered in the archives of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London,  the two deciphered telegrams show reports by Polish army units that the German army had crossed the Polish border on the outskirts of Rybnik alongside a large group of German tanks an hour earlier than attacks on Wieluń and Westerplatte.

Archivists uncover long-lost Komeda compositions

Composed for his last European project, the six handwritten manuscripts are from a project entitled “Moja słodka europejska ojczyzna” (My sweet European homeland) which Komeda established in 1967 in the German city of Baden-Baden on the theme of Jazz and Poetry.

‘They stopped being children and became witnesses of terror and violence!’ Archive of postwar drawings reveals children’s harrowing experiences of WWII

Created in 1946 as part of a post-war nationwide school project, the pencil and crayon images obtained by TFN show the full, terrible experience of war from the perspective of children.

Exhibition of Poland’s mountain ‘wonder woman’ Wanda Rutkiewicz goes on show at PAP HQ

The third woman in the world and first European to reach the peak of Mount Everest, the exhibition entitled ‘Passion, hardship and a love for the mountains – Wanda Rutkiewicz on unknown photographs’ presents previously unpublished photos held in the Polish Press Agency’s archives. 

Scientists are looking to compile an international archive of how historical objects smell

In this episode of The Debrief, we take a look at how a team of scientists have decided to create a library of historic smells.and their historical significance in an attempt to develop a new interpretation and a new narrative to describe the artefacts.

Polish avant-garde movie finally sees light of day

In this episode of The Debrief, we find out more about a Polish film dating from the 1930s which has just been unearthed at the German Bundesarchiv in Berlin.

Avant-garde masterpiece lost for 80 years to get world premiere at London Film Festival

Made in 1931 by surrealist Warsaw artists Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, the anti-fascist film ‘Europa’ was intended to reflect an atmosphere of horror and all-pervading societal decline as Hitler rose to power in Germany.

Holocaust archive launches appeal to find family of concentration camp victim so it can return personal items stolen by the Nazis

The Arolsen Archive in Germany is trying to trace relatives of Janusz Klinkowski who died days after the end of the war after being released from the Neuengamme camp near Hamburg.

Fascinating new book of secret police surveillance photos reveals chilling Big Brother control methods

Compiled as a warning about today’s internet surveillance, the 150 never-before-seen photos cover a wide range of Poland’s communist secret police activities between 1944 and 1989 and reveal the sometimes drastic measures authorities took to keep ‘enemies of the state’ under control.

Firefighters continue battling fire in Kraków city archives

Firefighters in Kraków have been battling a blaze that broke out in the city’s archives for 36 hours.

This site uses "cookies". By staying on it, you agree to the use of cookies.

Accept
Learn more