Archiwum Wschodnie collection, 1939-1989

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Summary

Creators:
Archiwum Wschodnie
Abstract:
Transcripts of interviews with Polish survivors of Soviet concentration camps, written reminiscences of survivors, and photographs, relating to the deportation of Poles to the Soviet Union and their internment during and after World War II. Interviews conducted by the staff of the Archiwum Wschodnie, Warsaw, from 1980 to 1989. Photocopy.
Extent:
15 manuscript boxes, 4 envelopes (6.4 Linear Feet)
Language:
Polish
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Archiwum Wschodnie collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

The Archiwum Wschodnie (Eastern Archives) in Warsaw was officially founded in Poland in 1987 as an entity independent from the communist regime, a first of its kind. Its mission is to collect memoirs, documents, photographs, and memorabilia describing the fate of Poles deported, imprisoned, or who participated in the armed resistance on the Polish territory incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939-1940, as well as materials illustrating the Stalinist repression in the 1940s and 1950s.

The interviews that constitute most of this collection were conducted from 1980 to 1989. In most cases they refer to much larger problems related to the deportations, and go beyond the standard questions that were asked during the war. At the same time researchers studying these documents should be aware that they were collected in politically sensitive times when people still didn't feel comfortable enough to reveal all aspects of their detention or deportation. That may also explain why some of them wanted to remain anonymous.

The topics covered in these materials are the fate of Poles in the Soviet Union before the outbreak of World War II; social and political conditions in Eastern Poland before and after the Soviet invasion; the fate of state employees, farmers, landowners, clergy, children, youth, orphans, and ethnic minorities such as Jews; and conditions in labor camps in the Kola Peninsula and in the regions of Vorkuta, Arkhangel'sk, Narym, Pavlodar, and Akmolinsk. There is also a group of testimonies by people from the Lomza district. This area would be of special interest to researchers because of the inter-ethnic conflicts that broke out shortly after the German invasion of the Soviet Union Union in 1941.

The Archiwum Wschodnie collection was received in two parts in 1990 and 1993 as a result of an agreement signed between the Archiwum Wschodnie and the Hoover Institution. These testimonies and questionnaires supplement those (circa 30,000) found in other collections at the Hoover Archives, such as Poland. Ministerstwo Informacji i Dokumentacji; Poland. Ambasada (Soviet Union); and especially Wladyslaw Anders. General Anders was the first to initiate a project of this kind in 1941 by founding the Documentation Office of the Polish Army in the USSR.

Acquisition information:
Acquired.
Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

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.

Terms of access:

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

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Archiwum Wschodnie collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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