News

The work on evidencing the collection of mementos connected with Second Lieutenant Stanisław Gracjan Kopczyński – an officer of horse artillery of the Polish Army, POW interned at oflags: XI B Braunschweig, II C Woldenberg and VII A Murnau – is drawing to an end. The items were passed to our Museum by his daughter, Maria Kopczyńska-Kowalczyk, who responded to our appeal and action launched with the aim to collect memorabilia.

Among the donated items, there is a soldier’s belt from the time before the war, a metal gorget made already in the camp – a gift from a friend, and correspondence from the years 1941–1944, written to the nearest in Lviv and Krakow. In his letters, 2nd Lt. Kopczyński wrote, among others, about the monotony of camp life and the necessity of “learning patience”.

2^nd Lt. Stanisław G. Kopczyński, an agricultural engineer by profession, a graduate of Lviv Polytechnic,  shortly before WW 2 held the position of manager of the Lubomirski family’s estate in Szczucin. Mobilised, he fought in defence of Warsaw as a soldier of the 6^th Division of Horse Artillery and was taken captive on 1 October 1939. At the beginning of the captivity the tragic news about the demise of his wife reached him, which resulted in the feeling of despair and hopelessness that he had to overcome. He found the activity in the fields of education and mastering foreign languages, among others, an effective remedy. This proved of key importance to him during his subsequent emigration in Great Britain.

Even though he was determined to return to his daughter, Maria, who was still a little child at that time, staying in Poland, on hearing about the communist authorities arresting his brother-in- law, he finally decided to stay abroad. Maria, was not able to see his father until many years after the war, still she always remembered her parent. Therefore, it was not easy for her to part with her father’s POW mementos. Nevertheless, she decided to pass the precious collection to us, relying on our guarantee of specialist care we provide and – in the long run – of saving her father’s memory from oblivion.

We want to kindly thank Maria Kopczyńska-Kowalczyk for the trust she has placed in us!