Republic of Poland and People's Republic of Poland 1918-1989

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EuroDocs > History of Poland: Primary Documents > Republic of Poland and People's Republic of Poland 1918-1989

Includes posters, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and letters.
(20th century; Polish and Yiddish facsimiles, Polish transcriptions and translations)
Audio from oral history with written summaries of interviews.
(20th century; Polish audio and text)
Witnesses affected by Soviet repression and deported to Siberia.
Ability to browse by person or by topic.
(20th century; Polish audio)
Photos, video, and audio from 20th century Poland.
(20th century; Polish)
First-hand accounts from Polish people who were deported by Stalin to Siberia (Tomsk region) and Kazakhstan.
Browse by author or theme.
(20th century; Polish audio, transcriptions, and interface)
Browse documents from Polish 20th century history here.
Read about the project here.
From the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance.
Site also available in English.
(20th century; Polish facsimiles)
Mostly observations for security in Austria, France, Germany, and Poland.
Includes observation of Communist International (Comintern) and other communist organizations and unions.
Documents were taken by the Soviet Union from Germany after WWII.
Part of the German Docs in Russian project.
(1912-1945; German facsimiles, site available in Russian, German, and English)
First-hand video accounts of recollections of Lwów (a city currently called Lviv, located in present-day Ukraine).
Includes recollections from Polish-Ukraine war of 1918-1919, the German Occupation, the Holocaust, and the Soviet Occupation.
(1918-1944; Polish audio)
First-hand accounts from the Polish town of Krzyż Wielkopolski (German name is Kreuz), which was subject to Polish and Soviet Red Army attacks.
Includes oral accounts with related documents from Polish and German people.
(1919 - post-1945; photos, Polish audio, facsimiles, and transcriptions)
List of the digitized newspaper "Today".
(1908-1939; Yiddish facsimiles)
Images from the JDC Archives.
Also see Photos from Post-WWII Poland.
(1920; images, English interface)
Adopted by the Polish Constituent Assembly at Warsaw following World War I.
(March 17, 1921; print facsimile)
Treaty between Soviet Union and Poland ending the Polish-Soviet War.
(March 18, 1921; English translation)
Two Polish directories from the early Twentieth century.
(1923, 1938; Polish)
"A collection of 111 volumes of signatures and greetings presented in 1926 to President Calvin Coolidge to commemorate the 150th anniversary of U.S. independence and to acknowledge American participation and aid to Poland during World War I."
(1926; English facsimiles)
Topographic maps at 1:25,000 scale from Germany of 1930 borders, including parts of what is now Poland
From BYU Digital Collections.
(1930; searchable or browsable access to facsimile maps)
Use right-hand menu to navigate through related documents and images from Nazi death camps in Poland.
(1933-1945; English interface, German facsimiles)
Database of interviews with Jewish people from Poland.
Includes facsimiles of official documents.
Explore the database by family name, city.
Advanced search here.
(photos, English transcriptions, Polish facsimiles)
Site contains information about relations of Poland with Germany before the war.
(1937 - 1939; images, text in Polish)
(1932 - 1939; images, text in Polish)
Site contains testimonies of the Belarus prisoners about life in the camp of Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Polish people.
(1934 - 1939; commentaries, transcription in Russian)
And the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939
(1939; English facsimile)
From the project, A Day That Shook the World, which "recalls the days of the 20th century that proved to be era-defining and pivotal in the course of modern history."
Coproduction of British Pathe and BBC
(1939; English; videos)
Document contains information about territorial interests of both governments towards Poland, Baltic countries, and territorial lands of Western Belarus and Ukraine. Transcription of the document.
(August 23, 1939; facsimiles in German)
Polish doctor recorded his experience during the German occupation including the atrocities committed.
(1939-1943; English translation)
Site contains photo gallery and documents.
(1939 - 1944; facsimiles, transcription in Polish and English)
From the diary of a Jewish youth
From Yad Vashem
(1939; English translation)
Site contains photo gallery of the camp.
(1939 - 1944; transcription in English)
Polish underground antifascist publications digitized by the National Library.
(1939-1945; facsimiles)
Searchable database of those repressed by USSR occupation. Includes those put in Soviet prisons, labor camps, or exile.
From the Institute of National Remembrance.
(17 September 1939 - 1989; Polish records)
Archives of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland in Exile.
Discusses Polish statehood in London during WWII and the communist era of the Polish People's Republic.
Browse by year here.
(31 October 1939 - 22 December 1990; Polish facsimiles)
Includes first-hand accounts of daily life, and photos from orphanages.
(1939-1946; photos, Polish transcriptions)
WWII era photo collection
From the New York Public Library
(1939-1944;photos)
Images and documents from the Harrison Fordman Collection.
Browse the collection or use the advanced search.
Project sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Libraries - Digital Collections.
From Quenched Steel: The Story of an Escape from Treblinka
Part of Yad Vashem
(1939; English translation)
Images from the JDC Archives.
Also see Photos from Post-WWI Poland.
(1940; images, English interface)
Document contains official order of high governmental officials about execution of 25,000 Polish war prisoners.
(March 5, 1940; facsimile in Russian)
From collection of Jan Daniluk.
Mainly military history.
Also includes documents from 1914 and earlier.
(1 July 1940; Polish facsimiles)
Site contains documents which testify about the destiny of Polish war prisoners .
(1940; facsimiles in Russian)
Library with testimonies and accounts of the Katyn massacre.
(1940; Russian transcriptions and translations)
Includes information about person's city, occupation, and sometimes a photo of the person.
(1941-1944; Polish interface)
He was an active member of Left Po'alei Zion and arrived in Warsaw as a refugee. He was involved with the illegal Oneg Shabbat Archives.
(1941; English translation)
Interview with Samuel Willenberg includes recollections of life in the Treblinka death and labor camp.
(1941-1944; Polish transcription)
(1941-1944; Russian)
Memoir by Benjamin Jacobs
From The Nizkor Project
(1941-post war; English)
Survivor's account of a year at the Treblinka Death/Labor Camp.
(23 August 1942 - 1943; English translation)
From documents of the Russian Commission to Investigate Nazi Crimes. Documents were not released until 1991.
List 1
List 2
(1942-1945; English translation and transliteration)
From the speech by Abba Kovner
From Yad Vashem
(English translation)
Evacuation from the Warsaw Ghetto
From Yad Vashem
(1942; English translation)
From the testimony of Jeane Levy
From Yad Vashem
(English translation)
From the Testimony of Laura Varon
From Yad Vashem
(English translation)
Site contains documents of the conference between USSR, Great Brittan, and the U.S.A.
(February 4-11, 1943; transcription in Russian)
Declassified by Russian Defense Ministry.
Includes reports from the liberation efforts and Red Army loss data.
Read about the document collection here.
(1943-1944; Russian facsimiles)
From the SS and Police Leader in the Warsaw District on the progress of Ghetto Aktion
From Yad Vashem
(1943; English translation)
Extract from a report by the Delegatura to London
From Yad Vashem
(1943; English translation)
Includes an oral history archive.
YouTube channel also contains oral histories.
Includes collection of biographies.
Includes photos. Access the photo collections by selecting "Kolekcje" on the left-hand sidebar, then browse the various photos.
(1944; photos, Polish audio and interface)
Telegrams reporting the efforts of the movement.
(1944-1945; Russian facsimiles)
Includes interviews and memoirs and letters (under "Soldiers" heading).
Includes NKVD/NKGB reports (under "Historical Background" heading).
(1944-1963; Polish facsimiles, English translations)
From a report in Warsaw sent to London through the Polish Underground
From Yad Vashem
(1944; English translation)
  • Foreign relations between Poland and the US
Documents from US State Department and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
1945
Transfer of German populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Austria, 1945
1946
1947
1949
1950
1951
Protests in Poznań
Assessment of protests, 2 July 1956
Possible causes of protests, 3 July 1956
More documents on protests as well as restoration of political rights to Gomulka, 1956
The Polish Crisis, 1956
Aftermath of Polish Crisis and US assistance, 1956-1957
US-Poland Negotiations, 1957
The US reevaluates its Eastern European policies, 1957
1958-1960
1961-1963
1964-1968
1969-1972
1973-1976
(1945-1976; English transcriptions)
Site containing a list of digitized newspapers.
(1945-1981; Polish facsimiles)
From the diary of one of the most prominent members of the underground in the Warsaw ghetto
From Yad Vashem
(1945; English translation)
Photograph collections from resistance to communism from 1945-1989.
From the Foto Karta collection, which has over 290,000 photos of social and political history in the 20th century.
(1945-1989; photos, Polish interface)
INFORMATION ON AND PRIMARY DOCUMENTS FROM ANTI-REVISIONIST MOVEMENTS, ORGANIZATIONS AND PARTIES
From the Encyclopedia of anti-Revisionism On-Line
(post-WWII to present; English)
Includes letters between Giedroyc and Polish intellectuals.
Also includes profiles of people and their connected documents.
(1947-2010; Polish facsimiles)
Temporary constitution superseded by 1952 constitution.
(Polish transcription, 1947)
A collection of primary source documents that discuss economic issues during the Cold War period. These documents are ...coming from Russian, Bulgarian, and Romanian archives. Topics broadly covered include issues of economic growth and dearth, requests for aid in light of shortages, and international trade issues
(1950s-1980s; multilingual facsimiles)
"70,292 digitized Information Item reports created by Radio Free Europe’s (RFE) News and Information Department in multiple languages from 1951-1957, covering political, economic, social and cultural issues behind the Iron Curtain. The Items concerned topics ranging from official Communist Party and state apparatus organization to micro-level practices of everyday life."
Items were "processed by national evaluation units for Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania."
From the OSA Archive Digital Repository.
(1951-1957; English, German, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, French, Romanian, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Georgian facsimiles)
Reports on developments in the communist world.
"18,224 special studies and thematic research papers produced by Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) research units from 1952 till 1992."
(1952-1992; English transcriptions)
Based on Soviet Constitution. Replaced Small Constitution of 1947.
(Polish; July 22, 1952)
This collection follows China's relations with countries in Eastern and Central Europe from the Sino-Soviet alliance through the Sino-Soviet split and the end of the Cold War. It contains files from China, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Romania, Albania, and other countries inside and outside of the Soviet bloc.
From the Wilson Digital Archive
(1954-1989; English transcriptions)
Treaty of friendship and cooperation between Soviet Union and other communist satellite states in Eastern Europe.
(May 1, 1955; English)
Monthly Reports about the Development in Poland between 1955 and 1965.
(1955-1965; facsimiles)
Documents regarding the Polish revolts against Soviet rule beginning in OCtober 1956.
Part of the Wilson Center's Digital Archive of the Cold War.
(1956-1989; English transcriptions)
Includes meeting minutes, plans for cooperation, negotiation protocols.
(14 April 1958 - 26 October 1989; Czech, Polish, and Russian facsimiles and transcriptions)
For over nine years, Kuklinski provided the CIA with more than 40,000 pages of documents regarding the innermost secrets of the Warsaw Pact.
From the Wilson Center Digital Archive
(1972-1984; English; facsimiles or transcriptions)
Encyclopedia Solidarity magazines, newspapers and newsletters. Uncensored from 1976-1989, legal trade union press of 1980-1981.
Browse alphabetically or by region.
(1976-1989; Polish facsimiles)
Publications from the Polish Underground Movement.
(1976-1993; Polish facsimiles)
Collection of illegally published books and journals from Communist Poland.
(1976-1990; Polish facsimiles)
Archive includes photos, excerpts of first-hand accounts, and document facsimiles from Poland's involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War.
(1979-1989; photos, Polish facsimiles and transcriptions)
An exhibition in Europeana.
(August 1980; photo facsimiles and video)
Documents from the National Security Archives
(1980-1981; English; PDFs)
Began with a wave of strikes and the formation of the labor union Solidarity, and ended with the imposition of Martial Law in December 1981.
Collection of documents regarding the Soviet and other eastern European leaders' responses to events in Poland.
Part of the Wilson Center's Digital Archive of the Cold War.
(August 1980 to April 1984; facsimiles)
(28 August 1980-13 December 1981; Russian facsimiles and transcriptions)
” A captivating collection of over 75 documents concerning the planning and implementation martial law in Poland from mid-1980 to late 1981.“
In cooperation with Central Intelligence Agency
(1980-1981; English facsimiles)
Collected primary documents from the end of the Cold War.
(1980s; English)
Printed artifacts produced by the Polish Underground Movement.
(1981-1989; Polish facsimiles)
Documents about the Polish Underground Movement.
(1984-1990; English and Polish facsimiles)
Includes underground publications from the organization.
Collection also has reports from meetings, leaflets, appeals, and demands that regarded to the group.
(June 1984 - 1990; photos, Polish facsimiles)
  • Protocol between Czechoslovakia and Poland
Protocol on exchange of recreation between the ministries of the interior of Poland (PLR) and Czechoslovakia.
Polish version
Czech version
(24 to 26 October 1989; Polish and Czech facsimiles)
Poland's Revolution as Seen from the U.S. Embassy
From the National Security Archive
(1989; English PDFs)
News article: "20,000 Jews were protected from the Holocaust in the Japanese-occupied city. Nina Admoni, whose husband would later head the Mossad, was one of them"
From Times of Israel
(English; photographs)

EuroDocs > History of Poland: Primary Documents > Republic of Poland and People's Republic of Poland 1918-1989


EuroDocs Creator: Richard Hacken, European Studies Librarian,
Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA.
Feel free to get in touch: eurodocs @ byu.edu

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