Register of the Andrzej Pomian papers

Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2009, 2014
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Stanford University
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Title: Andrzej Pomian papers
Date (inclusive): 1937-1973
Collection Number: 2009C45
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In Polish and English
Physical Description: 21 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 oversize folder, 7 motion picture film reels (8.8 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The collection includes materials related to Poland, the Polish Underground, the Warsaw Uprising, Polish politics and government during and after World War II and Polish émigré affairs, in the form of correspondence, writings, reports, publications, notes, and clippings. Also available on microfilm (36 reels).
Creator: Pomian, Andrzej
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Access

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Use

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Acquisition Information

Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2009.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Andrzej Pomian papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Alternate Forms Available

Also available on microfilm (36 reels).

Biographical Note

Andrzej Pomian, who died in Washington, D.C., in 2008 at the age of ninety-seven, was a Polish émigré journalist and author who worked for many years for Radio Free Europe. During World War II, he was a ranking officer in the Information and Propaganda Bureau of Poland's clandestine Home Army, the largest underground organization in Nazi-occupied Europe. Extracted from Poland in April 1944 in one of the most spectacular air operations of the war, Pomian spent the next ten years with the Polish government in exile in London before moving to the United States.
Andrzej Pomian, the name he assumed during the war, was born Bohdan Salacinski in 1911 in a Polish village in Podolia, the part of western Ukraine absorbed by the Soviet Union in 1920. Escaping the Soviets, the family moved to Warsaw, where Bohdan was educated, receiving his law degree from the University of Warsaw in 1932 and remaining at the university as an assistant professor. From the beginning of the German occupation, Pomian was involved in underground work. He taught law in an underground university and worked in various units of the resistance, eventually becoming a director of the Information and Propaganda Bureau, which coordinated the underground intelligence and publication work of the Home Army and controlled underground radio programming, as well as photographic and film documentation units. The Bureau's "Action N" section published documents in German aimed at weakening the morale of the German army and colonists in Poland. In general, the Home Army was involved in sabotage, self-defense, and retaliation activities against the Germans. It also provided key service to the Allies in the area of intelligence, monitoring troop movements in the east, and the development of German secret V-1 and V-2 rockets. The primary purpose of the Home Army, however, was to prepare for the anticipated German military collapse and the liberation of the country. After the Allied landing in Italy and the westward advance of the Red Army, a great national uprising, focused in Warsaw, was planned for the second half of 1944.
In connection with this plan, the Home Army and underground civilian authorities delegated several officers, including Pomian, to report to the Polish and British authorities in London on the progress of the preparations. Such contacts were usually carried out by coded radio transmissions or solitary couriers or emissaries. There were regular night flights from England or southern Italy to drop supplies and people into occupied Poland. A new joint Polish-Special Operations Executive operation, Wildhorn I, including actual landing and return flight, was undertaken in the evening of April 15, 1944. A Douglas Dakota, unarmed but equipped with eight additional fuel tanks, left its base near Brindisi in southern Italy. It flew over the Balkans and the Carpathian Mountains into Poland, to a stubble field near the city of Lublin, southeast of Warsaw. The field was marked out by bonfires and secured by several forest companies of the Home Army. Agents and bags of U.S. dollars were unloaded, and Pomian and his colleagues boarded the Dakota, barely avoiding the intense and bloody firefight that erupted between the Home Army units and the pursuing Wehrmacht columns. The return flight via Brindisi and Gibraltar brought Pomian to England twenty-four hours later.
Pomian followed the tragic epilogue of the war in Poland from distant London. During his ten years there, Pomian continued working for the Polish government in exile, coordinating contacts and organizing financial support for the anticommunist underground and Home Army veterans. He moved to the U.S. in 1955.

Biographical Chronology

1911 January 2 Born, Bohdan Sałacinski in Czarny Ostrów, in present-day Ukraine
1920 Evacuates to Poland with his family after the Polish-Russian War
1930s Studies law at Warsaw University and works in the municipal solicitor general's office
1940s Practices law and lectures in an underground university after the German occupation of Poland. He also works in the Central Command of the Polish Home Army in the Information and Propaganda Bureau
1944 April Evacuates from Poland by airplane during Operation Wildhorn I as an emissary to the Polish government-in-exile in London
1944-1954 Works on the staff of the commander-in-chief of the Polish government-in-exile as leading liaison operations with the Polish underground
1946 Author, Warsaw Rising
1949 Author, Stalin and the Poles
1950 Author, Polish Armed Forces in World War Two: The Home Army
1955 Emigrates to the United States
1956-1977 Works as the Washington correspondent for the Polish section of Radio Free Europe
1974-1977 Completes a three-year assignment in Munich
1977 Returns to Washington and retires
1977-2000s Freelances for radio and publishes articles on history, politics, and literature in the Polish Daily (London) and Polish Daily News (New York)
1990 Author, Poland Defends Her Independence 1918-1945
1991 Receives the Warsaw University Medal
2000 Awarded the Commander's Cross with Star by the president of Poland and receives the Joseph Conrad Literary Award from the Jozef Piłsudski Institute of New York
2008 April 20 Dies, Washington D.C.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection includes materials related to the Polish underground during and after World War II, with particular emphasis on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and the Soviet occupation of Poland, and Polish émigré affairs, in the form of reports, publications, correspondence, clippings, writings, and notes. The collection encompasses the years 1937-1973, with the bulk of the materials covering 1944-1954.
The bulk of the material relates generally to Andrzej Pomian's work as the assistant director of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army in occupied Poland (1941-1944) and his role as the chief liaison between the Polish underground and the government-in-exile (1944-1954).
Some correspondence, and some Home Army and government-in-exile material can be found interspersed with post-war notes, clippings, and publications in the subject file.

Related Materials

Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Poland. Ministerstwo Informacji i Dokumentacji records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Wolność i Niezawisłość miscellaneous records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Poland -- History -- Occupation, 1939-1945
Motion pictures
Polish people -- United States
World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland
Warsaw (Poland) -- History -- Uprising, 1944
Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów

 

Biographical file 1944-1954

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, personal documents, and receipts. Arranged by physical form.
box 1, folder 1

Family correspondence 1944-1954

box 1, folder 2

Personal documents, correspondence 1944-1952

box 1, folder 3

Receipts, notes, correspondence 1949-1954

 

Correspondence 1944-1954.

Scope and Contents note

Arranged alphabetically.
box 1, folder 4

Anders, Władysław 1953

box 1, folder 5

Gierat, Ewa and Stanisław 1951

box 1, folder 6

Grubiński, Wacław 1948-1951

box 1, folder 7

Kukiel, Marian 1944

box 1, folder 8

Sujkowski, Zbigniew 1951-1952

box 1, folder 9

Talarek-Gronowski, Roman 1951

box 1, folder 10

Terlecki, Tymon 1954

box 1, folder 11

Tyszkiewicz, Samuel and Wiktoria 1950

box 1, folder 12

Węgorek, Zygmunt 1952-1953

box 1, folder 13

Wołodko, Norbert 1945

box 1, folder 14

Wyczałkowski, Marian 1950

box 1, folder 15

Zalewski, August 1953

box 1, folder 16

Żenczykowski, Tadeusz "Kania," 1944-1946

 

Home Army and government-in-exile file 1941-1954.

Scope and Contents note

Reports, notes, correspondence, publications and financial records related to the Home Army and Andrzej Pomian's role as liaison between the government-in-exile and the postwar Polish underground. Arranged chronologically.
box 1, folder 17

"Akcja N," 1941-1945. Anti-Nazi German-language propaganda

os_folder  1

"Akcja N," 1941-1945. Anti-Nazi German-language propaganda (oversize) 1943-1944

box 1, folder 18

Biuro Informacji I Propagandy Krajowych Sił Zbrojnych, BIPKSZ, circa 1943

box 1, folder 19-20

Publications 1943-1944.

Scope and Contents note

Contains photos, leaflets, Insurekcja, Biuletyn Informacyjny, Polska Ilustrowana, Sprawy Polskie, Kobieta w Walce, Przeglad Polityczny, Nowe Drogi, Wiadomosci Polskie
box 2, folder 1

Home Army and "Akcja N," 1943-1948.

Scope and Contents note

Reports, correspondence, notes
box 2, folder 2

Polish underground and postwar publications 1943-1952.

Scope and Contents note

Includes photostat copies,
box 2, folder 3-4

Warsaw Uprising 1944

Scope and Contents note

Photographs of underground publications
box 3, folder 1

Warsaw Uprising 1944

Scope and Contents note

News digests, anecdotes
box 3, folder 2-3

Warsaw Uprising August 1944.

Scope and Contents note

Press digests and orders
box 3, folder 4

Poland, Ministry of the Interior, Social Division 1944

Scope and Contents note

Reports from the Warsaw Uprising
box 3, folder 5-10

Poland, Ministry of the Interior, Social Division 1945

Scope and Contents note

Review of the national press during the Warsaw Uprising, parts 1-6
box 3, folder 11

Photos, reports on the situation in Poland and the Yalta Conference 1944-1945

box 4, folder 1

Situational reports on Soviet-occupied Poland from the Ministry of Information and Documentation and the Ministry of the Interior 1944-1945

box 4, folder 2

Warsaw Uprising 1944-1946.

Scope and Contents note

Reports, press digests, correspondence
box 4, folder 3

Digests of messages received from Poland, in English; correspondence/publications relating to Polish government-in-exile propaganda and information distribution 1944-1947

box 4, folder 4

Home Army 1944-1950.

Scope and Contents note

Reports, pamphlets
box 4, folder 5

Typescript chronology of the Warsaw Uprising, circa 1945

box 5, folder 1

Narodowe Siły Zbrojne N.S.Z. 1945-1946.

Scope and Contents note

Reports, underground publications
box 5, folder 2

Polish Government budget documents 1945-1947

box 5, folder 3

Correspondence, party platforms, meeting minutes 1945-1947

box 5, folder 4

Notes, receipts, pamphlets, correspondence 1945-1948

box 5, folder 5

"WIN" 1946-1947.

Scope and Contents note

Plan of operations, correspondence, receipts, brochures relating to émigré affairs
box 5, folder 6

Polish underground 1946

Scope and Contents note

Publications, photos
box 6, folder 1

Polish government-in-exile 1946-1950.

Scope and Contents note

Financial records and film
box 6, folder 2

Polish underground 1946-1954.

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, instructions, reports, receipts, leaflets
box 6, folder 3

Financial records, receipts 1949-1952

box 6, folder 4

Polish underground group "Farys" and its cooperation with British intelligence 1951-1954.

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, reports
 

Writings 1945-1960.

Scope and Contents note

Typescripts, manuscripts of books and other writings, and transcripts of Pomian's Radio Free Europe broadcasts. Arranged chronologically.
box 6, folder 5

Operation Tempest "Burza" and the Warsaw Uprising undated.

Scope and Contents note

Manuscript, notes
box 7, folder 1

"Niepodległość I Demokracja," freedom movement undated.

Scope and Contents note

Typescript, manuscript and notes
box 7, folder 2

The Soviet Union and the Home Army undated.

Scope and Contents note

Typescript and manuscript
box 7, folder 3-4

Typescripts, reports, clippings undated

box 7, folder 5-7

Powstanie Warszawskie 1946

Scope and Contents note

Typescript
box 7, folder 8

Polish underground 1947

Scope and Contents note

Manuscripts and typescripts
box 8, folder 1-2

Anthology of the Warsaw Uprising 1954

Scope and Contents note

Sheet music, lyrics, poetry
box 8, folder 3

Radio Free Europe 1954

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, transcripts, notes
box 8, folder 4

Tradycje Demokracji Polskiej 1954

Scope and Contents note

Manuscripts, typescript
box 8, folder 5

Z Dziejow Polski Podziemnej 1955-1956.

Scope and Contents note

Transcripts
box 9, folder 1

Z Dziejow Polski Podziemnej 1959

Scope and Contents note

Transcripts
box 9, folder 2-3

Radio Free Europe 1960

Scope and Contents note

Transcripts
 

Subject file 1939, 1944-1958.

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, publications and notes. Arranged alphabetically.
 

General

box 9, folder 4

Booklet/letter 1946, 1955

box 9, folder 5

Clippings, notes, reports 1944-1948

box 9, folder 6-7

Clippings 1944-1953

box 10, folder 1-2

Clippings 1944-1953

box 10, folder 3-6

Clippings, periodicals, typescripts, notes 1944-1955

box 11, folder 1

Clippings, newspapers 1955

box 11, folder 2

Clippings, photos, letters, notes 1947-1948

box 11, folder 3-6

Clippings, notes, scripts, correspondence, pamphlets 1944-1958

box 12, folder 1

Clippings 1945-1955

box 12, folder 2

Clippings 1946-1949

box 12, folder 3

Notes, orders, clippings 1947-1950

box 12, folder 4

Notes, clippings 1944-1947

box 12, folder 5

Notes, songs, poems, reminiscences 1954

box 12, folder 6

Notes, clippings, pamphlets 1944-1952, 1955, 1957-1958

box 13, folder 1-5

Notes, clippings, pamphlets, periodicals 1944-1954

box 14, folder 1-2

Notes, publications, and periodicals 1941-1950

box 14, folder 3

Pamphlets 1944-1948

box 14, folder 4

Party platforms, bulletins, photos of Stanisław Mikołajczyk 1947

box 14, folder 5

Publications 1944-1955.

Scope and Contents note

Includes Robotnik, Robotnik Polski, Tygodnik Warszawski, Gazeta Ludowa, Polska Zbrojna, Dzis I Jutro, Polska Walczaca, Jutro Polski, Biuletyn Informacyjny, Zycie, Dziennik Polski I Dziennik Zolnierza, Glos, Tygodnik Powszechny
box 14, folder 6

Reports, pamphlets, periodicals 1943-1947

box 14, folder 7

Reports, periodicals, prayer cards, notes 1945-1954

box 15, folder 1

Typescript screenplay, undated

box 15, folder 2

Typescript personal narratives, undated

box 15, folder 3

Typescripts 1945, 1947

Scope and Contents note

Includes Powstanie Warszawskie by Antoni Chrusciel "Monter"
box 15, folder 4

Typescripts, notes, publications, correspondence 1946

box 16, folder 1

émigré affairs 1945-1953.

Scope and Contents note

Serials, clippings, report
box 16, folder 2

Home Army undated.

Scope and Contents note

Bibliography of underground publications, notes and typescript
box 16, folder 3

Home Army and political organizations undated.

Scope and Contents note

Notes, typescripts, clippings
box 16, folder 4-5

Polish underground undated.

Scope and Contents note

Songs, poems
box 16, folder 6

Polish underground 1943, 1946, 1948-1949.

Scope and Contents note

Typescript, correspondence
box 16, folder 7

Soviet occupation of Poland during and after World War II 1946-1948.

Scope and Contents note

Typescripts
box 17, folder 1-2

Warsaw Uprising undated.

Scope and Contents note

Typescript, poetry
box 17, folder 3

Warsaw Uprising 1954

Scope and Contents note

Notes, clippings
box 17, folder 4-5

Warsaw Uprising 1944

Scope and Contents note

Typescript, notes, digest of messages
box 18, folder 1

Warsaw Uprising 1944, 1954.

Scope and Contents note

Notes, clippings, typescripts, reports
box 18, folder 2

Warsaw Uprising 1944

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, photographs,
box 18, folder 3

Warsaw Uprising 10th anniversary 1954

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, articles, correspondence
box 19, folder 1

Warsaw Uprising 1947

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, notes, poems
box 19, folder 2

Warsaw Uprising and Polish émigré affairs 1947

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, publications, newsletters, bibliography
box 19, folder 3-5

Warsaw Uprising 1944-1951.

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, photos, correspondence, bibliographies
box 19, folder 6

"WIN," 1952-1953.

Scope and Contents note

Pamphlets, clippings
box 19, folder 7

Wodewil Warszawski, by Edward Chudzyński 1954

Scope and Contents note

Script for a play
box 19, folder 8

World War II 1939-1947.

Scope and Contents note

Clippings, correspondence, September 1, 1939 newspaper
 

Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów file 1969-1973.

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence, financial records, and printed matter, relating to activities of the Polish-American veterans' organization Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów and Polish émigré affairs. Arranged chronologically.
box 20, folder 1

Baczyński, K.K. 1972

box 20, folder 2

Brezhnev, L.I. 1973

box 20, folder 3

Ciehanowski, Gladys 1973

box 20, folder 4

Cives Leopolienses 1971-1973

box 20, folder 5

Galinski, Adam 1971-1973

box 20, folder 6

Hemar, Marian 1972

box 20, folder 7

Karski, Jan 1973

box 20, folder 8

Katyń 1972

Scope and Contents note

Printed matter
box 20, folder 9

Lot 1973

box 20, folder 10

Ostrowski, Tadeusz 1972

box 20, folder 11

Paczkowski, Jerzy 1971

box 20, folder 12

Polish-American Congress 1971-1972

box 20, folder 13

Project Pole 1972

box 20, folder 14

SPK combatants 1972-1973.

Scope and Contents note

General
box 20, folder 15-17

SPK correspondence 1971-1973

box 20, folder 18

SPK members 1972-1973

box 21, folder 1

SPK combatants printed matter 1972-1973

box 21, folder 2

SPK combatants printed matter "Kombatant..." 1971-1972

box 21, folder 3

Reports 1971-1973

box 21, folder 4

Statute 1953

box 21, folder 5

Troscianko, Wiktor 1973

box 21, folder 6

Veteran's Bill 1972-1973

box 21, folder 7

Warsaw Ghetto Anniversary 1973

 

Sound Recordings 1956-1964.

Scope and Contents note

Contains 4 reels and 1 phonorecord, relating to Jan Paderewski, the Warsaw Uprising, Communism in Poland, and the U.S. presidential election of 1956.
box 21

T. Machrowicz New Year's Address, undated, Warsaw Uprising Tribute broadcast on Belgian Radio (French), 1/4 inch reel August, 1964

box 21

"Poland Under Communism," Interview with Andrzej Pomian, 1/4 inch reel June 21, 1963

box 21

Flannery on Paderewski, 1/4 inch reel undated

box 21

"Ballads for Ballots" sung by Joe Glazer, phonorecord 1956

os_folder  1

Maps 1937-1948.

Scope and Contents note

Poland, Germany, and progress of the Warsaw Uprising
box 22

Maps 1937-1948

Scope and Contents

Poland, Germany, and progress of the Warsaw Uprising
 

Motion Picture Films

Scope and Contents

Titles taken directly from the film reels.
film Shelf

"Polish Bombers Holiday", 35mm film print circa 1943

Physical Description: 35mm print, black & white, sound, 1000ft.

Access

Use copy available on-site for immediate use. Use copy reference number: 2009C45_f_0010675.

Scope and Contents

Opening credits read: Polish Air Force Film Unit Presents, Polish Bombers Holiday.
film Shelf

"WWII Polish Army en route from USSR via Africa-Italy-France to Germany - Polish Version", 35mm film print

Physical Description: 35mm print, black & white, sound, 1000ft.

Access

Use copy available on-site for immediate use. Use copy reference number: 2009C45_0011243_r01
film Shelf

"Polish Bombers Holiday", duplicate 35mm film print

film Shelf

"Sport Kajakowy w Polsce", 35mm film print

film Shelf

"WWII Polish Paratroopers Porizade 2nd Part Polish Version", 35mm film print

film Shelf

"Najkrotsza Droga", 35mm film print

film Shelf

"A Vol D'oiseau", 35mm film print