Queries of the staff of the Centre in Wrocław within the framework of the NPRH project
On 18-20 March 2024, as part of the NPRH programme and the associated grant entitled ‘Diaspora of Polish Sybiraks in the World – Record of Source Accounts/Notations and Home Archives of Sybiraks in the Country – Archival Team’, under the direction of Dr Hubert Chudzio, Professor UKEN, a search took place in Wrocław with the aim of completing the documentation on Polish Sybiraks. It was not without reason that this search took place in Wrocław. This is because it is the place where, after the Second World War, numerous Polish citizens who had been deported to the depths of the USSR in the 1940s were sent as part of the repatriation campaign. The Union of Siberians, the Federation of Katyn Families and the Club under the Baobab (to which the so-called Siberians-Africanists belong) are still active in Wrocław today. The queries were carried out by the staff of the Centre for Documentation of Deportations, Expulsions and Resettlements at the University of the Commission for National Education in Krakow: Wiktoria Zarębczan, MA, and Mariusz Solarz, PhD.
Already before the trip, a search was carried out, during which 59 references of archival ensembles held at the Ossoliński National Institute were selected. It was possible to digitise approximately 4,500 archival sheets of documents, photographs and other materials. During the three-day search, the team also met with the President of the Sybiraks Association in Wrocław, Dr Ryszard Janosz. Thanks to the President, they were able to access the exhibition “Golgotha of the East”, dedicated to the history of the Siberian exiles in Wrocław. Despite the short time of the delegation, the team also managed to reach the Archives of the “Remembrance and Future” Centre, where they met with the head of the Documentation Centre, where the team of the Federation of Katyn Families was digitised.
