News

The staff of the Department of Collections and Conservation have just completed inventory work on the donation of Wojciech Szwarc, who gave the Museum mementos of his stepfather.

The collection contains memorabilia belonging to Euzebiusz Szeffel, Second Lieutenant of the 63rd Toruń Infantry Regiment, who was taken into captivity on 20 September 1939, during the Battle of the Bzura River. In late autumn, he was sent to Oflag VII B Eichstätt, and then, in May 1940, to Oflag VII A Murnau, where he was held until his liberation by American troops, on 29 April 1945. He then volunteered for service in guard companies with the US Army in France, and became Polish commander of the 1916th Polish Guard Company in Bouy, Champagne. In November 1945, he returned to Poland, where he worked as a teacher and the headmaster at III High School of The Polish Navy in Gdynia (1953-1958).

The donated memorabilia includes camp (and post-war) photographs, watercolours created in captivity, documents and objects. The most notable items are a brooch in a case that belonged to Eusebius Szeffel's mother, which he kept for the duration of the war until his return home, and a porcelain cup brought from Germany. The collection is complemented by handwritten memoirs entitled. "Marszówka - where to?".

Thank you very much for your gift!