Aneta Nisiobęcka

Documents of the French Secret Police (Sûreté Nationale) and the archives of Paul Desjardins in the Archives of the Institue of National Remembrance – review of the archives

The article focuses on presenting French archival documents from the collection of the Commander of the Security Police and Security Service in France (der Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienstes in Frankreich) in the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). In 1982 the collection was transferred by the Central Archives of the Ministry of Interior to the Central Archives Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation, and then in 2000 it was transferred to the IPN Archives. Twenty-eight archival units from this collection concern the synarchist movement, its functioning in the 1930s and during the Vichy regime in France, as well as the famous intellectual meetings in Pontigny (Les Décades de Pontigny) organized by Professor Paul Desjardins.

The aim of the paper is to serve as a reminder of Polish economic migrations to and from Belgium between 1918 and 1952, largely absent from the collective memory of Poles or frequently identified with migrations to and from France. Based on the account of the Szotek family, collected in accordance with oral history methodology, the authors present the family’s complex story of migration: first a journey from Ujków Stary to the Charleroi coal basin in Belgium and then a return to Poland, where they lived again in Ujków Stary, then in Zalesie and Bystrzyca Kłodzka, only to finally return to Ujków Stary. The family’s reasons behind the decision to go to Belgium and then re-migrate to their homeland helps to comprehend the historical context of economic migration to and from Belgium, as outlined by the authors. The issue of adaptation of emigrants in the country of settlement, and then their adjustment as re-emigrants to the new reality forged by the authorities of the “democratic” Polish People’s Republic occupies an important place in the paper.