http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf4v19n70w No online items Register of the Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych Records, 1919-1947. Processed by Zbigniew Leopold Stanczyk ; machine-readable finding aid created by James Ryan Funding for this project was generously provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, together with a matching grant from the Taube Family Foundation. The grant also provides depositing a microfilm copy of these materials in the State Archives of Poland in Warsaw. Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, California 94305-6010 Phone: (650) 723-3563 Fax: (650) 725-3445 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/ © 1998 Hoover Institution Archives. All rights reserved. 59003 1 Register of the Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych Records, 1919-1947. Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, California Contact Information Hoover Institution Archives Stanford University Stanford, California 94305-6010 Phone: (650) 723-3563 Fax: (650) 725-3445 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/ Processed by: Zbigniew Leopold Stanczyk Date Completed: 1994 Encoded by: James Ryan; revised by Lisa Miller, 2004 © 1998 Hoover Institution Archives. All rights reserved. Funding for this project was generously provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, together with a matching grant from the Taube Family Foundation. The grant also provides depositing a microfilm copy of these materials in the State Archives of Poland in Warsaw. Descriptive Summary Title: Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych, Date (inclusive): 1919-1947. Collection Number: 59003 Creator: Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych. Records Collection Size: 652 manuscript boxes, 10 oversize boxes, 13 envelopes (277 linear feet) Repository: Hoover Institution Archives Stanford, California 94305-6010 Abstract: Correspondence, bulletins, memoranda, reports, studies, lists, financial records, and photographs, relating to Polish foreign relations during World War II, the Polish government in exile in London, Allied diplomacy during World War II, conditions in Poland during the war, deportation of Poles to the Soviet Union, Polish refugees, the Jewish holocaust in Poland, and Polish military operations. Includes some records of Polish foreign relations during the interwar period. A digital copy of this entire collection is available at http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/800/42/0/-/ . Language: Polish. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives. Alternative Forms of Material Available Also available on microfilm (541 reels). Digital copy in Poland's National Digital Archive at http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/800/42/0/-/ . It was digitized from microfilm by the Polish State Archives. Introduction 59003 2 Now fully organized and provided with a detailed register, the collection of the Polish Foreign Ministry (Poland Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych) at the Hoover Archives constitutes a unique resource for scholars studying not only Polish diplomatic history but the more general subjects of World War II and events surrounding the post-war division of Europe and the beginnings of the Cold War. If for no other reason, the particular status of Poland as victim of both Nazi and Soviet aggression explains the importance of the material in this collection, but it is of renewed interest in light of more recent developments. Five years after the fall of Communism, and with the resulting increased access to East European archives, the historical period covered by the collection has been subjected to a variety of reinterpretations based on newly available records. The collection provides a significant source of primary documentation on a wide range of topics pertinent to such a re-examination. The history of the collection itself recapitulates many of the events described within its records, and it is directly linked to the fate of independent Poland. Unlike its European counterparts, the Polish state entered the twentieth century without a diplomatic tradition, having endured foreign occupation for more than 100 years. Following the achievement of independence in 1918, it would take many years for the Polish state to establish an official presence on the international level. Before World War II, Poland had still not completed the task of building a comprehensive diplomatic network. As of July 1, 1939, Poland had 10 embassies, 23 legations and 203 consular offices of diverse status throughout the world. This was a level of representation which was not commensurate with the needs of the Polish state. After the outbreak of World War II with the simultaneous Russian and German invasions of Poland, the government was forced to relocate abroad and reconstruct its operations, including its diplomatic service. In the first months of exile in London, the Foreign Ministry's posts were filled by a new group of officials, who nonetheless were able to maintain a high level of professional competence in the exercise of their duties. Utilizing skilled individuals from among the Polish refugee population, as well as former employees who were smuggled out of occupied Poland, the ministry was able to preserve a clear division of responsibilities within its staff and to sustain an intense diplomatic effort on behalf of Poland. Having been forced to dramatically reduce its diplomatic service at the beginning of the war, the foreign ministry was able to re-establish its representation abroad, so that by the war's end there were some 148 Polish consular offices. During the war, the Polish government was in the peculiar position of having no territory or subjects to rule and having its armies scattered on different continents. It remained in close touch with occupied Poland and with those who constituted the underground resistance. Each branch of the government in exile had its homologue within occupied Poland, and this kind of parallel operation was unique within occupied Europe. As no puppet governments emerged following the German and Russian invasions, the London government could make sole claim to represent the Polish nation. As part of this representation, it was concerned with preserving the records of the Polish state. Already in the immediate period prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, the Polish government had been concerned with the selection and transfer of documents from embassies and consulates in countries adjacent to Germany. These materials were sent to Warsaw and became part of the Foreign Ministry archives. Following the invasion of Poland, the ministry was evacuated along with a portion of its archives. Some records were intercepted by German and Russian forces, and a large portion of these has been lost permanently. With London providing a relatively safe environment for governmental activity, the records of the 1940-45 period have survived to a large extent intact, although some records from diplomatic posts abroad were destroyed in the post-war period in an effort to keep them from the new communist authorities in Poland. The Hoover Archives is in possession of the complete set of the ministry's records covering the years 1939-1944, and some documents from 1945 are to be found within the collection. Supplementing these are the ministry's documents from 1945, which were found in Westminister Cathedral in 1980 and are now housed at the Sikorski Institute in London. Additional records are stored at the Pilsudski Institute in New Jersey. In terms of the size of its Polish Foreign Ministry collection, Hoover is equalled only by the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw, whose records cover only the inter-war period. As its name would suggest, the Polish Foreign Ministry collection is especially important in terms of material concerning the history of various policy issues involving the Polish state and other countries. There are some records dating back to independence in 1918, as well as a substantial amount of sensitive material from the entire period before and during World War II, which were marked with the name of the current minister or other government official and kept separate from the rest of the records. For the most part, records of intelligence activities and other classified documents relating to military operations are not found in the collection. Most Polish military activity was under the control of the British, and for that reason records concerning this are generally not available. Material is to be found in the collection at Hoover concerning organizational, as opposed to operational, issues involving the Polish military, such as the formation, training and disposition of Polish forces on Soviet and British territory. Attention should be drawn to material within the collection which concerns issues of special historical interest. These can be listed by country, region or topic: 59003 3 THE SOVIET UNION There is a substantial amount of documents in the collection concerning the Soviet occupation of Poland following the invasion of 1939, as well as its aftermath, including records of the deportation of Poles to the Soviet Union and their subsequent imprisonment or forced resettlement. There are numerous lists of deportees in the papers of the collection, records whose existence was hitherto unknown. The evacuation