J贸zef Frejlich collection, 1891-1968

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Summary

Creators:
Yalta Conference (Location of meeting: I汀Alta, Ukraine. Date of meeting or treaty signing: 1945.) and Frejlich, J贸zef
Abstract:
Writings, correspondence, bulletins, press releases, serial issues, pamphlets, and other printed matter, relating to Polish history and politics, socialism in Poland, Poland during World War II, the Yalta Conference, Poles in the United States and Canada, anti-communist movements, and the Russian Orthodox Church. Includes some correspondence of J. Frejlich and newspaper articles written by him.
Extent:
81 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder (33.8 Linear Feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], J贸zef Frejlich Collection, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Background

Scope and content:

Jozef Frejlich, collector, historian, and economist was able to leave Warsaw in 1940 as a result of the efforts of his party colleagues, who were members of the government-in-exile in London. As an active and well-known member of the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna), he was smuggled through many borders to Portugal where, in 1942, he received a visa to the United States. Upon his arrival in New York the following year, he was hired by the Polish Consulate to oversee the government's financial operations. Later he was transferred to the German Department of the Polish Information Center, and remained there until its closing in 1945. His main assignment was to stay in touch with German and Jewish-Americans circles, which were of particular interest to the Polish diplomatic services. His own political views also brought him closer to the activities of the socialist groups, but he soon found himself in conflict with those who manifested their support for the Soviet Union.

This collection reflects Frejlich's professional activities, as it contains mainly printed materials such as press clippings, which he analyzed as a press reviewer. However, he continued this work long after the closing of the government's operations. A large portion of those press clippings originated from the 茅migr茅 newspapers published in the United States, a majority of which from the German press, which, to a large extent, reflected the opinions not of the German minority but of the German speaking Jewish immigrants. There are also some German language titles printed in Switzerland, a country with good insights into the political developments on the European continent.

Frejlich's political association with the socialist movement both in Poland and in the United States is reflected in a large set of documents left for him in the last will of Wladyslaw Fischler, who was active in the Zwiazek Socjalistow Polskich w Stanach Zjednoczonych. They illustrate the liveliness of political life among Polish immigrant workers in the United States.

The collection also includes Frejlich's articles written for numerous Polish-American journals, as well as rare documents, periodicals, and monographs supplementing other collections in the Hoover Archives on World War II, socialism, and Poles in the United States and Europe, particularly the records of the Ministerstwo Informacji i Dokumentacji and of the Polish Information Center.

The papers were part of a larger shipment delivered to the Hoover Archives in 1969. Besides materials that originated in the Polish Information Center, the shipment contained several thousand books deposited at the Hoover Library. Because of Frejlich's interest in the history of socialism, he was offered the position of honorary curator of the Polish socialist collection; unfortunately, his advanced age didn't allow him to accept that offer.

Acquisition information:
Acquired.
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], J贸zef Frejlich 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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