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Andrzej Korbonski Collection of Research Materials on Communist Poland 098
098  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access Note
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation Note
  • Acquisition Information
  • Collection Description
  • Biography
  • Arrangement

  • Title: Andrzej Korbonski Collection of Research Materials on Communist Poland
    Identifier/Call Number: 098
    Contributing Institution: Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University
    Language of Material: Polish

    English
    Physical Description: 3.0 Boxes
    Date (inclusive): 1943(of originals)-1991
    Abstract: This collection consists of Radio Free Europe reports, photocopies of declassified U. S. Department of State documents and Polish government documents that Dr. Andrzej Korbonski gathered for research on his homeland of Poland under Communism.

    Conditions Governing Access Note

    Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections.

    Publication Rights

    Materials in the Department of Archives and Special Collections may be subject to copyright. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, Loyola Marymount University does not claim ownership of the copyright of any materials in its collections. The user or publisher must secure permission to publish from the copyright owner. Loyola Marymount University does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or of publication rights held by the original author or artists or his/her heirs, assigns, or executors.

    Preferred Citation Note

    [Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Andrzej Korbonski Collection of Research Materials on Communist Poland, 098, Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Bohdan Oppenheim. Accession Number: 2013.33

    Collection Description

    Containing materials (all textual) in both Polish and English, this small collection (1.25 linear feet) consists principally of publications of the research arm of Radio Free Europe and photocopies of original documents from a major Polish state archive and from the United States Department of State (these are declassified). Dr. Andrzej Korbonski collected these sources for his research on Communist Poland.
    The Radio Free Europe materials are in Series 1 and Series 2. These include reports on social, political, and economic conditions in Poland; noteworthy are the reports on the Polish Roman Catholic Church and John Paul II, and the rise of Solidarity under Lech Walesa. These reports are in English, although there are a number of press summaries in Polish in Series 2 that "East (sic) Europe Research" of Radio Free Europe gathered.
    Of special interest is Series 3 with its photocopies of documents from the Archiwum Akt Nowych, a major Polish governmental repository. Samples of these documents include an information bulletin from the Ministry of Internal Affairs concerning meetings of Polish Roman Catholic bishops. Another concerns a statement from the Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II), to a member of the Polish Parliament concerning a religious procession. The materials are all in Polish in this series. Dr. Nibel Raab, of LMU's Department of History, graciously helped in the translation of some of the documents, which provided insight into the information that they contain.
    Series 5 consists of photocopies of memoranda and telegrams sent either to President Franklin D. Roosevelt or to the Secretary of State from the Department of State, and messages from the Secretary of State to F.D.R. The memoranda and telegrams concern U.S. views of, and meetings with, the Polish government in exile in the last years of World War II. The materials also cover the U.S. government's relations with Polish Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, U.S. financing of the Polish underground, the American Polish Congress, Polish-Soviet Union relations, the Warsaw Uprising, and U.S. and Soviet views on the post-war form of Polish government and society.
    Most of the original material in Series 5 was classified until the 1970s. Names of note in this series include diplomat Averell Harriman (1891-1986) and U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull (1871-1955).

    Biography

    Dr. Andrzej Korbonski (1927-2013) was a long-time political science professor at UCLA, whose research interests in Communist Poland and Eastern Europe stemmed from his Polish birth. Korbonski served in the Polish Free Army in Great Britain during World War II, and after the war ended, he immigrated to the United States. He earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia in 1962, upon which he gained a position in the Department of Political Science at UCLA in 1963. He retired from UCLA in 1994, although remaining active as an emeritus professor.
    Dr. Korbonski published numerous books and articles on Communist Poland, a research pursuit that is reflected in the materials in this collection.
    All information in this biography comes from the UCLA Department of Political Science web page "In Honor of the Life of Andrzej Korbonski" .

    Arrangement

    The Andrzej Korbonski Collection of Research Materials on Communist Poland is arranged in the following series:
    Series 1: Radio Free Europe Research Department Situation Reports
    Series 2: Radio Free Europe Polish Press Summaries
    Series 3: Polish Government Documents
    Series 4: Publications
    Series 5: United States Government Declassified Documents
    Series 6: Andrzej Korbonski Conference Papers and Other Research Materials

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Korbonski, Andrzej, 1927-2013
    Communism--Europe, Eastern--History--20th century
    Communism--Poland--History--20th century
    Poland Catholic Church
    Polish Government in Exile
    Radio Free Europe