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The final stage of research work at the Prague archive
Since 2016, the Museum employees, in stages, have conducted a research work at the Military Historical Archive in Prague (Historýcký Vojenský Archiv). During that time, they made digital records of about 120,000 documents comprising material from the prisoner of war camps of the VIII Military District of the Wehrmacht, i.e. Teschen, Lamsdorf, Görlitz and Sagan.
The three-day visit in Prague, ended today, was the ninth and final research work on the huge and very valuable archival collection. This time the work was conducted by the following team: Dr. Piotr Stanek (Head of the Research Department), Dawid Żak (Department of Collections and Conservation) and Dominik Marcinkowski (Section of Communication and Public Image). Dr. Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska (Director of the Museum), Dr. Ewelina Klimczak and Monika Sobczak (Department of Education and Exhibitions) and Dr. Bartosz Janczak (then – in 2016 – an employee of the Research Department) also participated in the earlier research works.
The results of the research are digital copies of the records of a special collection of the Museum archives, which is and will be in the near future the subject of our in-depth research works and the basis for further findings on the functioning of the German POW system. The obtained records consist of numerous official documents, correspondence, statistics, e.g. the rates of mortality, morbidity, or discharges. An interesting set of documents concerns the POW staff, photos taken in the stalags and working parties, and even press materials.
The camp archives found their way to Prague by chance. When the end of the Second World War was approaching, by order of the commandant of the Teschen camp, Colonel Albert Thielebein, the records were sent by the Wehrmacht to the heartland of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. However, under unknown circumstances, the documentation was abandoned and eventually fell into the hands of Czech archivists.
The research trip was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Multiannual Government Programme "Niepodległa" for 2017-2022.
