http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf187001bd No online items Register of the Jan Karski papers Finding aid prepared by Irena Czernichowska and Zbigniew L. Stanczyk Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2003 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the Jan Karski papers 46033 1 Title: Jan Karski papers Date (inclusive): 1939-2007 Collection Number: 46033 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: Polish Physical Description: 20 manuscript boxes, 11 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder, 6 card file boxes, 24 photo envelopes, and 26 microfilm reels(21.8 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, government documents, bulletins, reports, studies, speeches and writings, printed matter, photographs, clippings, newspapers, periodicals, sound recordings, videotape cassettes, and microfilm, relating to events and conditions in Poland during World War II, the German and Soviet occupations of Poland, treatment of the Jews in Poland during the German occupation, and operations of the Polish underground movement during World War II. Includes microfilm copies of Polish underground publications. Boxes 1-34 also available on microfilm (24 reels). Video use copies of videotape available. Sound use copies of sound recordings available. Creator: Karski, Jan, 1914-2000 Hoover Institution Library & Archives Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Acquisition Information Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives from 1946 to 2008. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Jan Karski papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Alternative Forms of Material Available Boxes 1-34 also available on microfilm (24 reels). 1914 June Born Jan Kozielewski in Lodz 24 1935 Law student at University of Lwow 1939 First mission to the West, France Mobilized, September campaign - escapes Soviet imprisonment Recruited into the Polish diplomatic service 1940 Second mission - Failed 1942 Reports on his mission to representatives of governments of Poland and Great Britain Smuggled into Warsaw ghetto and a concentration camp to prepare a report on Nazi war crimes 1943 Reports about situation in Poland to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other U.S. officials 1944 Publishes Story of a Secret State 1952 Receives PhD from Georgetown University 1953 Enrolls at School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University 1954 Naturalized as American citizen. Works for United States Information Service 1965 Marries Pola Nirenska 1984 Retires from Georgetown University 1985 Publishes The Great Powers and Poland 1994 Made honorary citizen of Israel 2000 July 13Dies in Washington D.C. Scope and Content Note Jan Karski, 1914-2000, born Jan Kozielewski, was a Polish liaison officer working for the Polish underground during World War II. He carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to a generally unbelieving West. The process of the deposition of his papers at Hoover began in 1946 and lasted for over sixty years. Herbert Hoover, who was aware of Karski's excellent connections within diplomatic circles, enlisted him in 1945 to collect documents of the Polish Government in Exile, which by that time had lost recognition of all western powers who accepted the Soviet-imposed government. Karski went on a trip around the world to urge the former government members to send all available documents to Stanford and deposit them at the Hoover Archives. Register of the Jan Karski papers 46033 2 Karski's papers document two main areas of activity: 1) Collecting activities on behalf of the Hoover Library, and 2) Missions to the Government in Exile during World War II Karski went on his last top-secret mission across the German territory in 1942 carrying a small suitcase and a microfilm of hundreds of documents. Most of what he conveyed to his superiors in London depended on his amazing ability to memorize dozens of pages and hundreds of names. After he reached his destination safely they were written down. Karski wasn't given access to the documents concerning the publicity surrounding his meetings with influential politicians, journalists or activists until they were opened decades after the war. In the 1980s he visited archival institutions in Europe, Israel and the United States to obtain such copies and incorporate some of their content into this collection. During his trips to Stanford he was presented with documents produced by the Polish government, the agencies he either worked for or was loosely associated with (see list in Related Collections). In the Hoover collection of Karski's papers the best sources of information on his mission and its aftermath are twenty volumes of scrapbooks. Karski decided to create them in the mid-1980s. His visitors were given the opportunity to come into contact with documents illustrating his biography. It was the donor's wish to keep them in the same order. A visual file, containing audio and video tapes with interviews and documentaries supplements the information in scrapbooks. Besides a few photographs, very little in Karski's papers concerns his personal life. Later demand for information about his family's background compelled him to reproduce photos depicting his relatives before World War II. This finding aid was created in 2008 when all of materials Hoover Institution expected to receive were delivered. A register existing before 2008 described the content of the first nine boxes. Since these boxes had been microfilmed the decision was made to keep materials in the same order and not incorporate them into the later acquisitions. Cross references have been provided in the container list. Related Material Poland. Ambasada (Great Britain) Records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Poland. Ambasada (U.S.) Records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych Records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Stanislaw Mikolajczyk papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives Subjects and Indexing Terms Audiotapes Video tapes World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews Poland -- History -- Occupation, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland Propaganda, German Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Jews -- Poland Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943 Biographical File 1942-1994. Scope and Contents note Correspondence, notes, telegrams, reports on Karski's courier mission to Poland and on his mission to inform the public in the United States and Great Britain. See also scrapbooks. Arrangement note Arranged by physical form in boxes 1-3 and 36, and alphabetically by subject in box 9 Material brought to the Polish government-in-exile in London from Poland by Jan Karski in 1942 box 1, folder 1 "Charakter Misji" box 1, folder 2 Photographs of typed records box 1, folder 3-4 Photographs of Poland under German occupation (activities of the Polish Underground, scenes in the Warsaw Ghetto, etc.) Register of the Jan Karski papers 46033 3 Biographical File 1942-1994. box 36, folder 1-2 Report given to Gen. Władysław Sikorski in 1943 after Jan Karski arrived in England from Poland box 36, folder 1-2 Klucz do kryptonimów raportu politycznego Jana Karskiego (key to pseudonyms in Jan Karski's political report) box 36, folder 1-2 "Obóz Narodowy - Próby konsolidacji" (#1) box 36, folder 1-2 "Obóz Socjalistyczny" (#2) box 36, folder 1-2 "Pozycja Stronnictwa Ludowego" (#3) box 36, folder 1-2 "Unia" (#4) box 36, folder 1-2 "Ośrodki Ludowo-Demokratyczno-Lewicowe" (#5) box 36, folder 1-2 "Sanacja" (#6) box 36, folder 1-2 "Konferencja Okrągłego Stołu" (#7) box 36, folder 1-2 "Konflikty Życia Podziemnego" (#8) box 36, folder 1-2 "Siły Zbrojne" (#9) box 36, folder 1-2 "Delegatura Rządu" (#10) box 36, folder 1-2 "P.K.P." (#11) box 36, folder 1-2 "Polityczność Sił Zbrojnych" (#12) box 36, folder 1-2 "Charakterystyczna Inicjatywa Polityczna" (#13) box 36, folder 1-2 "Koncepcje Powstania" (#14) box 36, folder 1-2 "Koncepcje Konsolidacyjne" (#15) box 36, folder 1-2 "O Kierownictwo Polski Powstańczej" (#16) box 36, folder 1-2 "Działalność Agentur Sowieckich na Ziemiach Polskich" (#17) box 36, folder 1-2 "Zagadnienie Łączności" (#18) box 36, folder 1-2 "Departament Oświaty i Wychowania" (#19) box 36, folder 1-2 "Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa" (#20) box 36, folder 1-2 "Poziom Moralny i Polityczny Życia Podziemnego - Luźne Ośrodki i Ich Rola" (#21) box 36, folder 1-2 "Zagadnienie Fachowości - Elita - Rola Emigracji" (#22) box 36, folder 1-2 "Zagadnienie Młodzieży" (#23) box 36, folder 1-2 "Bierni i 'Współpracujacy' z Okupantem" (#24) box 36, folder 1-2 "Charakterystyczny Problem 192" (#25) box 36, folder 1-2 "Prasa Tajna" (#26) box 36, folder 3 Report of Jan Karski to the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London on his secret trip to the United States in 1943 and his audience with President Franklin D. Roosevelt box 36, folder 3 List of prominent people at the secret gathering where Jan Karski gave his report on Poland box 36, folder 3 Memorandum for the Prime Minister (personal) box 36, folder 3 Memorandum of conversation between Jan Karski and prominent Americans box 36, folder 3 Memorandum of discussion between J. Kwaśniewski and prominent Americans and Englishmen box 36, folder 3 Report from conversation during an audience with President Franklin D. Roosevelt box 36, folder 3 Report no. 1 of Jan Karski's activities during his first trip to the United States (4 copies) box 36, folder 3 Report no. 2 of Jan Karski's activities during his first secret trip to the United States 1943 box 36, folder 3 Report no. 3 from Jan Karski's secret mission to the United States, "The Jewish Problem" box 36, folder 3 Report no. 3, "Reakcje kluczowych osobistości amerykańskich na mój referat" box 36, folder 3 Report no.