The Czesław Horain collection in the Archive of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London as a source of studies on the history of Poles in the Holy Land

Czesław Horain (1904–1966), an engineer and amateur historian, resided in Palestine from 1940 until his death, arriving there as a war refugee. He collected materials about Poles in the Holy Land for many years. He was the author of the pioneering unpublished work entitled Bio-bibliografia polsko-palestyńska generalna (A.D. 990–1950), which he wrote in Jerusalem. The biobibliography contains lists of printed works and manuscripts, as well as documentation concerning any Poles who ever visited the Holy Land. The Horain collection, in the form of index cards and the collector’s notes and comments, included over 15,000 items. In 1993, part of the collection, previously kept in Jerusalem, was brought to the Archive of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London. It is kept in the fonds with the reference number Kol. 551. The article aims to provide a closer look at this fonds, to answer what its subject matter is and what type of materials it contains, as well as where and when the group of documents was created and according to what criteria it was assembled. So far, the collection has not been studied or cited by historians. It should be introduced into scientific circulation because it considerably improves the current state of knowledge about the history of Poles in Palestine.

 

Key words: Czesław Horain, Poles in the Holy Land, Palestine documents referring to Poles, Archive of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

 

Czesław Horain (1904–1966), an engineer and amateur historian, resided in Palestine from 1940 until his death, arriving there as a war refugee. He collected materials about Poles in the Holy Land for many years. He was the author of the pioneering unpublished work entitled Bio-bibliografia polsko-palestyńska generalna (A.D. 990–1950), which he wrote in Jerusalem. The biobibliography contains lists of printed works and manuscripts, as well as documentation concerning any Poles who ever visited the Holy Land. The Horain collection, in the form of index cards and the collector’s notes and comments, included over 15,000 items. In 1993, part of the collection, previously kept in Jerusalem, was brought to the Archive of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London. It is kept in the fonds with the reference number Kol. 551. The article aims to provide a closer look at this fonds, to answer what its subject matter is and what type of materials it contains, as well as where and when the group of documents was created and according to what criteria it was assembled. So far, the collection has not been studied or cited by historians. It should be introduced into scientific circulation because it considerably improves the current state of knowledge about the history of Poles in Palestine.