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Title: Poland. Ambasada (France) records
Date (inclusive): 1919-1945
Collection Number: 45004
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Polish
Physical Description:
23 manuscript boxes
(9.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial records, relating to Franco-Polish relations in the interwar period and
during World War II.
Creator:
Poland. Ambasada (France)
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1945
[Identification of item], Poland. Ambasada (France) records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library &
Archives.
Also available on microfilm (24 reels).
Polish embassy in France.
The Polish embassy in France, considered the most important link in the Polish diplomatic network, officially opened in 1924,
with Alfred Chlapowski as ambassador until 1936. Before then, the interests of the Poles after World War I were represented
by the Polish National Committee (Polski Komitet Narodowy), responsible for Polish relations with the members of the Triple
Entente. Dissolved in 1919, the Committee was replaced by a legation, headed by Maurycy Zamoyski. He remained at his post
until 1924, when, by decree of the Council of Ministers, the legation's status was raised to that of an embassy.
From the very beginning the embassy played an extremely important role in Poland's foreign policy, particularly in the second
half of the 1920s and throughout the 1930s. In charge during the most critical years of 1936-1939 was Ambassador Juliusz Lukasiewicz,
an experienced diplomat of great political skills as well as a talented organizer; he was also a close associate and personal
friend of the foreign minister, Jozef Beck.
This collection is an excellent illustration of those tense years, as can be seen in the telegrams exchanged with the Foreign
Ministry headquarters in Warsaw and with many Polish diplomatic posts. They describe various shifts in Polish-French relations,
reflected in talks and treaties, both military and diplomatic. What might be of most interest to the researcher here is the
rapprochement between the two countries in the years preceding World War II: Poland then had in France a very close ally,
a much more important one than Great Britain.
With the collapse of the Polish state in 1939 and the government's move to France, Ambassador Lukasiewicz was replaced by
Feliks Frankowski, who kept his rank of chargé d'affaires and that of minister plenipotentiary. He also represented Poland
under the Vichy government until September of 1940, when, because of strong German pressure, Poles lost their diplomatic accreditation
to France and the embassy moved to Lisbon. (Later, with the same titles, Frankowski represented Poland to the French National
Committee in Algiers.)
Due to the lack of Polish diplomatic representation on French territory, responsibilities for assistance to Poles were assumed
by Stanislaw Zabiello, the representative of the Polish Red Cross (Polski Czerwony Krzyz). Information on his incredible and
still largely unknown accomplishments can be found among the Polish Foreign Ministry (Poland. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych)
records, also in the Hoover Archives, particularly documents related to welfare work of the embassy and operations of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
As reflected in the records of the embassy, one of the major concerns of the Polish authorities, especially after June 1940,
was the fate of over 600 thousand displaced Polish nationals, a large percentage of them Jewish. Poles constituted the biggest
foreign community in France, having traditionally settled there in large numbers. These immigrants, refugees, and displaced
persons, in addition to the thousands of former soldiers who left occupied Poland, contributed to the formation of a large
army in France. Many of those who didn't continue their odyssey joined the underground, and eventually became subject to Nazi
persecution and deportations.
After 1940, the Polish authorities in London maintained delicate contacts with the Free French. The difficult relations between
the two sides were due to the complex situation within the French Underground and De Gaulle's entourage. Nevertheless, diplomatic
relations were maintained, and in 1944, the post of ambassador was restored, with Kajetan Dzierzykraj Morawski in charge until
1945.
This collection was transferred to the Hoover Institution in two parts, in 1945 and 1959. In the early 1990s, records of the
embassy were also identified within the Polish Foreign Ministry collection and merged with the original two deposits.
Besides the Hoover Institution, records of the embassy are stored in three other locations: the Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw
(particularly for the years 1919-1924), the Pilsudski Institute in New York (for a small portion of the Lukasiewicz papers),
and the Sikorski Institute in London (for a large portion of Morawski's papers, of which there are just a few here at Hoover).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history
World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland
France -- Foreign relations -- Poland
Poland -- Foreign relations -- France