News

Upon the invitation extended by the Director of the State Archives in Wrocław, on 20 March we took part in the ceremony of conclusion of the research project under the title “Polish POWs in Lower Silesia 1939-1945”.

At the roots of the project lies the fact that the history of Polish Defensive War of 1939 had its tragic yet poorly known POW-related traces also in Lower Silesia. However, the then existing German POW camps, work kommandos and evacuation marches in 1945 saw deaths of, among others, Polish soldiers who had been taken captive by the Wehrmacht.

For decades their fates have remained anonymous and the location of their burials – with the exception of a few officers – faded into obscurity. The impulse for undertaking research were requests lodged by families of the dead soldiers, who had been looking for the graves of their nearest in vain for years.

The project was implemented in the years 2019–2024, in cooperation with our Museum and with an invaluable support of state archives, the Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance in Wrocław and the Voivode of Lower Silesia. The coordinator of the project was Dr Grażyna Trzaskowska of the Sate Archive in Wrocław. The researchers concentrated on preparation of soldiers’ biographical notes, establishing the locations of their graves (numbers of plots and rows) as well as analysing the exhumation works executed after the war. The geographical range of the works covered the prewar Province of Lower Silesia, including today’s Lower Silesian Voivodeship and parts of Lubuskie and Opole Voivodeships. Areas belonging presently to Saxony (for example Reichenbach) were also made part of the examination. The final effect of the works will be publication of a book.

The meeting was attended by Dr Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska, Director of the Central Museum of Prisoners of War and Dr Renata Kobylarz-Buła, Deputy Director, who – during the seminar – delivered her paper under the title “The state of research into Polish POWs”. Our two representatives were accompanied by Dr Kamil Weber of the Research Department and Krzysztof Sznotala of the Archives. They had carried out research work together with Dr Renata Kobylarz-Buła. The whole meeting was led by Dr. hab. Tomasz Głowiński, professor of the University of Wroclaw.

We are grateful for being invited to participate in the project!