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Publication date: 27.11.2024

Licence: CC BY  licence icon

Editorial team

Language Editing Aleksandra Czaplicka Wojtas, Wioletta Poturała, Marta Bojańska, Emilia Gołębiowka-Kulik

Editor-in-Chief Orcid Piotr Gołdyn

Issue content

Studia

Krzysztof Dorcz

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 19 - 30

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.001.20295
The article concerns the ancient city seals of Izbica in Kujawy (until 1816), founded and composed from the cities of Izbica and Nowa Izbica. It contains a summary of the state of knowledge taken from the literature according the subject and obtained as a result of archival research. At the same time, it refers to Izbica located in the Lublin Voivodeship and shows research problems in identifying the seals of two different cities with the same names. The article presents the findings of famous researchers from a period of over a hundred years, from W. Wittyga (1914) and M. Gumowski, through S. K. Kuczyński, M. Adamczewski and P. Bokota, to H. Seroka (2022). These findings, as well as the authors’ conclusions, were illustrated with reproductions of the seals and documents on which they were impressed. Generally, the article is part of the research on the urban symbolism of Izbica Kujawska, which is part of the Polish local government heraldic art.
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Błażej Nowicki

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 31 - 67

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.002.20296
Protestants in Izbica Kujawska emerged in the second half of the 16th century, and one of the first pastors serving in Izbica was father Daniel Mikołajewski, a co-creator of the „Gdańsk Bible”. The ongoing Counter-Reformation halted the development of the Izbica congregation. The revival of protestantism in Kujawy, including Izbica, was made possible by the influx of German colonists who, towards the end of the 18th century, founded villages such as Pasieka and Tymień. Over time, Lutherans also began to settle in Izbica itself. Thanks to the efforts of local Lutherans in the early 20th century, two Lutheran churches were built (in Izbica and Pasieka), significantly contributing to elevating the Izbica congregation to the status of a filial (branch) on January 1, 1910. This did not signify the end of organizational development. On December 3, 1933, a decision was made to form an independent parish with a pastor residing in Izbica. These changes came into effect on January 1, 1934. It was the fulfillment of the dreams of the Lutherans in Izbica. The successful development of the parish was interrupted by World War II, as a result of which the majority of the faithful left the area.
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Mariusz Patelski

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 69 - 87

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.003.20297
In the 19th century, agricultural academies established in different states played a significant role in the development of sciences dealing with rural farming and agricultural education. Among the most prominent centres of this type was the Prussian Royal Agricultural Academy based in Prószków near Opole. Due to its location, the surrounding and high level of education offered, it was a place of studies attended by many Poles, including inhabitants of the former Kalisz Voivodeship. Polish youth formed their own organizations there, such as: Literary-Agricultural Society, Brotherly Aid of Polish Academics in Prószków. Among the graduates of the Academy were members of landed gentry and administrators of large estates, who implemented modern methods of growing crops and raising animals in Polish lands, as well as acted for the development of farmers’ organizations, agricultural education and popularization of the idea of cooperative farming. The graduates of Academy included well-known social activists like Stefan Grabski, a close co-worker of the Rev. Wacław Bliziński, the landowner and subsequent parish priest of Wielgomłyny, the Rev. Norbert Milewski.
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Tomasz Dziki

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 89 - 109

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.004.20298
In the years 1815-1866, Izbica administratively belonged to the Kujawy region and district (since 1842), and from 1847, it belonged to the Włocławek district in the Mazovia Province, later, from 1837, to the Mazovian Governorate, and from 1845, to the Warsaw Governorate. After the territorial reform of 1866, at the beginning of 1867, Izbica was incorporated into the Koło County in the Kalisz Governorate. In 1866, the town ceased to be privately owned, and in 1870, pursuant to the law of 1869, Izbica lost its municipal rights and was transformed into a settlement, annexed to the rural district of Zagrodnica, later renamed Gmina Izbica. The municipal administration in the Kingdom of Poland was subordinated to state authority, meaning that each mayor was nominated, not elected by the community. Unlike many other towns, the municipal treasury of Izbica did not have its own properties for a long time. In this regard, the town’s assets were initially equivalent to zero, and from 1845, they were modest as the town council received a house from the town’s owner to adapt it into the town hall. The costs of maintaining municipal administration and implementing urban investments were covered by taxes, fees, and contributions from residents. Overall, during the discussed period, Izbica was one of the larger towns in terms of demographics in eastern Kujawy. The town was predominantly characterized by wooden architecture.
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Przemysław Nowicki

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 111 - 128

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.005.20299
In 1821, a new self-governing body of the Jewish communes was established in the Kingdom of Poland by the Russian partitioners. This body was called the synagogue executive council, which replaced the so-called kahal. Initially, the composition of the council included a rabbi and three members, who were chosen by paying a tax. The members served for a term of three years. The synagogue executive council was the administrative authority of all the people comprising a given religious group referred to as a synagogue district. Among its most important tasks was creating a budget for 1 year, and later for 3 and 6 years, including among others, expenditures for maintaining the synagogues and schools, providing a salary for the rabbis and for caring for the poor (sick) as well as income, among others, from fees, taxes on marriages, funerals and public baths (mikvehs). The entire accounting process was subject to detailed auditing by the general administrative authorities. This body possessed total legal authority to purchase and own real estate. Based on research covering the years 1822-1866, all the names of the rabbis in Izbica Kujawska as well as some of the names of the governing executive councils are known. Information is also available concerning several budgets for the synagogue coffers of the Izbica synagogue district – confirmed by the general administrative authorities for a period of one year (1846), three years (1847-1849, 1850-1852) and six years (1853-1858, 1859-1864). In Izbica Kujawska, a private (noble) town, the superintendent of projects was obliged to pay rent to the owners of the town (heirs) for the plots he received from them in privileges, on which there was real estate under management and use (among others, the synagogue and cemetery).
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Krzysztof Płachciński

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 129 - 147

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.006.20300
The article discusses the organization and functioning of insurgent camps during the January Uprising in Eastern Greater Poland and the border of Greater Poland and Kujawy. The everyday life of volunteers staying in these places was shown. Moreover, the text describes the effects of frequent moving from place to place on them. The author writes about the difficulties that the participants of the fight for independence in 1863-1864 had to face and how they dealt with them. The work also presents the impact of weather conditions on the life of insurgents in the camps. It also describes how free time was spent in the camp, how people coped with the lack of weapons and various diseases.
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Agata Walczak-Niewiadomska

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 149 - 163

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.007.20301
Izbica Kujawska, a city currently located within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, has undergone many administrative, demographic, social and cultural changes over the centuries. Due to its low historic and economical importance, especially at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was not a subject of much scientific investigation, probably also due to the lack of available sources of information. This gap has a chance to be filled by a meticulous analysis of the content of magazines published at that time in the administrative and religious areas that included Izbica, containing various notes about the town. The aim of the article is to present the results of such an analysis carried out on the basis of the first few years of publishing “Gazeta Kaliska” and tracing in its pages the events that took place in Izbica Kujawska at the end of the 19th century
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Joanna Szady

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 165 - 178

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.008.20302
The article describes the participation of the Sisters of Charity in nursing care at Holy Spirit Hospital in Konin from 1906 to 1938. It presents the status of the religious staff of the Konin hospital, reconstructing the years of work of individual sisters in the city. It outlines the traditions of the city’s hospital service, together with the circumstances of bringing the Sisters of Charity to the city, as well as the conditions of their work. The hospital’s staffing situation is described in a broader geographical and historical context, showing the network of hospital facilities in selected periods. To develop the topic, archival materials from the Diocesan Archives in Włocławek, the Archive of the Sisters of Charity in Warsaw and research data from the resources of the Centre for Research on the Historical Geography of the Church in Poland were used. The article is enriched with cartographic and iconographic material.
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Barbara Kalinowska-Witek

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 179 - 194

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.009.20303
The important tasks of the press include informing readers about essential social problems and shaping public opinion about them. Undoubtedly, one of the most important social issues is the education of the young generation. The preparation of young people for adult life and work for the good of the nation depends on its quality and availability. The editors and publicists of “Głos Koła”, published on the eve of regaining independence in 1918 and in the first weeks of the creation of the reborn Republic of Poland, understood this well and that is why the magazine often published articles on the organization of education, especially at the lowest level, and the problems encountered during this difficult period for everyone.
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Julian Jaroszewski

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 195 - 215

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.010.20304
This article describes sports movement on the premises of Kalisz garrison. Started in 1920s in military sports clubs, it shaped skills used in combat training. From 1930 military sport was concentrated in multi-section WKS “Prosana” Kalisz, gathering military professionals, conscript soldiers and civilians. Apart from perfecting utilitarian skills (shooting, horse riding, fencing and athletics ) it developed its members’ individual interests. Affiliation to sports associations enabled participation in Polish nationwide sporting competition.
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Zbigniew Bereszyński

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 217 - 249

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.011.20305
In the years 1946–1947, the communists gradually dealt with the legal political opposition of the Polish People’s Party. The amnesty announced subsequently turned out to be a devastating blow to the underground continuing its activities from the period of World War II. In this situation, opposition activities among young people growing up in the post-war period began to become particularly important. The progressive Sovietization of social life in Poland was met with various manifestations of opposition and resistance in these circles. The consequence of this was spontaneous attempts at conspiratorial activity among school youth. Such initiatives were also born in the Kalisz district. They did not constitute a serious threat to the communist system, but the power apparatus of that time did not underestimate them, and this resulted in repressive actions on its part. These issues are presented on the example of nine different conspiratorial initiatives from 1947-1954.
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Kamil Małyszko

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 251 - 261

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.012.20306
The purpose of this article is to present issues related to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the PRL at the Prison Service Training Center in Szczypiorno. In the first part of the article, the author characterized one of the most important public holidays in the PRL, called „birthday of the system”, that is the National Day of Poland’s Revival. In the further part of this work, was presented a detailed course of celebrations related to the 30th anniversary of the PRL, which took place on July 6 and 7, 1974 at the Prison Service Training Center in Szczypiorno.
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Andrzej Stelmach, Piotr Chrobak

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 263 - 278

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.013.20307
The article discusses candidates running for city mayors in the 2002-2018 elections in the eastern part of Greater Poland. It analyses which of the candidates can be referred to as “electoral locomotives” in the local elections and which of them owe their results to their electoral committee or party. The analysis focuses on the two largest and most popular parties in the country: Civic Platform and Law and Justice. The narrative is based on the comparative analysis method.
The article attempts to answer the following questions: Was major support among voters won by individual candidates or candidates representing a specific committee? How many of these candidates were elected? Did mayoral candidates also run for city council? Were they successful? How many votes did they win and what was the vote breakdown by candidate lists? The answers enabled to determine whether candidatures put forward by the Civic Platform and Law and Justice proved to be in the parties’ favour.
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Materiały

Piotr Maciej Dziembowski

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 281 - 316

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.014.20308
This article contains 220 extracts from the parish register of the Catolical Church in Koźminek and Lisków in the 18 th century. Records apply baptisms (136), marriages (29) and funeral (55) of persons of the szlachta (nobility) descent. An attempt was also made to determine the affiliation of persons appearing in the records. The article based on source material serve genealogical information about the nobility of the Kalisz county.
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Jarosław Durka

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 317 - 353

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.015.20309
This article presents compiled source materials concerning the visit of the Chief of State Józef Piłsudski to Kalisz on 15 May 1921. These are announcements and press reports from the ‘Gazeta Kaliska’ newspaper. They constitute a valuable historical source as they describe in detail the course of the Marshal’s visit and the people involved in organising and conducting the ceremony. The main reason for Piłsudski’s arrival was the presentation of a banner to the 29th Kaniowski Rifle Regiment and the decoration of soldiers. The Chief of State also met with Kalisz authorities and local social activists, including representatives of economic life in the town and its surroundings. The study provides biographical details of specific, more or less forgotten figures. Archival material was used to prepare some of the biographical notes in the footnotes.
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Oleh Razyhrayev

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 355 - 365

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.016.20310
Stefania Sempołowska was not only a well-known Polish educational, social and political activist, but also a protector of political prisoners in the penitentiaries of the Russian Empire and the Second Polish Republic. This article presents documents from the collections of Lithuanian and Belarusian archival institutions - the Brest Oblast State Archive and the Lithuanian Central Historical Archive. They relate to the various forms of Stefania Sempołowska’s assist for communist prisoners both in the eastern (north-eastern) voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic and her activities as a delegate of the Russian Red Cross on a national scale.
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Bartłomiej Grzanka

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 367 - 386

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.017.20311
The visit of members of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Łódź and representatives of the literary and press community in Chełmno on May 26, 1945 was not the first official visit to the grounds of the former German extermination camp. However, it became an impulse to undertake an official investigation into the crimes committed there, and over time – thanks to the literary processing of the materials collected at that time by Zofia Nałkowska, the head of the Commission – also a symbol of the investigation of the “Chełmno affair”. The report presented below has not yet been published in its original form.
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Biografie

Robert T. Tomczak

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 389 - 403

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.018.20312
This study is devoted to the clerical career of the Koło burgher Walenty Tomczykowic (d. 1695), which he pursued in the post-war perspective of the town’s development. Walenty Tomczykowic turned out to be not only an efficient town clerk, but also a man who could take care of his image. He left behind personal entries in the town records, which can be seen as an emanation of his personality and education. Tomczykowic had the opportunity to work for his town as notary, lay judge, councillor, wójt and mayor. He was helped in particular by his acquired education, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and experience as notary. Thanks to his foresight, as well as well-preserved source material, it is possible to reconstruct quite well his career as a official, as well as the life path that took him to the pedestal of the Koło municipal hall of fame.
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Paweł Klint

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 405 - 432

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.019.20313
Przyjemski family between 16th and 18th centuries. The author tries to indicate the sources of the financial and political career of the members of this family. An important element analyzed in the text are affinities with other Greater Poland and crown families during the period of the magnate power of the Przyjemski family. The splendor of individual family members, as well as the foundation activities of the Przyjemski family, which had been building since the end of the 16th century, also served to maintain the magnate position, although seemingly locally. It involved not only the commemoration of individual figures, but also the use of tombstones and epitaphs. The magnate family even had the mission of founding church institutions, such as monasteries and parish churches, and then maintaining them. The Przyjemski family also did an excellent work according to that interesting issue.
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Kamil Kęsik

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 433 - 454

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.020.20314
National and liberation matter during the partitions was present on different grounds in the lives of the Polish society. Poles, willing to regain independence, took radical steps, which led to the Uprisings of 1830 and 1863. Catholic clergy, whose personal engagement gave moral support to independence movement, were also involved in it. Rev. Piotr Kobyliński (1814-1896) was one of the extraordinary priests in the Kujawy and Kalisz Diocese who was acting for raising morality and religious spirit in the period between the Uprisings. His involvement in organising the smuggling of people for the Uprising in the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1896, his engaging summons exhorting to fights with the enemy as well as giving support to everyone taking part in the Uprisings made him fall victim to repression of the Russian administration in the result of which he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. He fought for national unity between the clergy and the faithful, which can be best examplified by his support given to Bishop Michał Marszewski in 1863 for attempts to discredit him in the eyes of Poles. His second working area was his pastoral service in five parishes, in which he became well-known as the church constructor and the model parish priest conveying deep patriotism in his teaching and attitude.
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Michał Widera

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 455 - 470

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.021.20315
The article shows the social activities of Fr. Józef Mężnicki, who came from a family that had been involved for generations in working for the common good of the inhabitans of Częstochowa. In addition to his pastoral work, he undertook multifaceted activity for the development of social associations, including consumer cooperatives and raising the intellectual level of the people of parishes where he served. He conducted his activity in unfavorable conditions during the partitions and after Poland regained independence, when the foundations of state institutions were created with great effort. Fr. Mężnicki, as a respected social activist, served for many years as vice-chairman of the national association of consumer cooperatives. He had great social trust of his parishioners, people involved in social activities and local government institutions.
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Małgorzata Bańkowska

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 471 - 490

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.022.20316
This article presents a profile of Włodzimierz Pietrzak, a writer and literary critic associated with Turek and Kalisz. A search through archival, museum and library resources has revealed a number of new facts about the writer’s life and work and discover unknown photographs of the poet and documents related to his studies at the University of Warsaw. The biography, based on archival and press sources, was enriched with data from the post-war memoirs of members of the Artistic Club “S” and Konfederacja Narodu, as well as writers with whom W. Pietrzak had artistic and literary ties and long-standing friendships. The collected material presents the writer as an intellectual, erudite writer, essayist and collaborator of the major literary periodicals of the inter-war period, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at his political involvement
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Tomasz Sypniewski

Polonia Maior Orientalis, XI, 2024, pp. 491 - 514

https://doi.org/10.4467/27204006PMO.24.023.20317
Tadeusz Jan Nowicki was born at 9.30 a.m. on 27 February 1915 in Dortmund, in the working-class district of Erving. The available documentation shows that he had five siblings: Wanda, Janina, Irena, Telesfor and Sophie. His parents Jan and Helena Nowicki decided to return to Poland in 1918. The couple chose the town of Wysoka, in the Działdowo region, to be their place of settlement in Poland. T. Nowicki began his education at the Teachers’ Seminar in Działdowo in 1929. It was a very specific secondary school. Its main task was to educate the Masurian intelligentsia, identifying with the Polish ethnos. It is worth emphasising here in what circumstances this young man who later became very actively involved in the fight for Poland’s independence, as well as in social activity and positivist grassroots work in the village of Podgolina, was raised.
On 20 August 1939, he was mobilised and assigned to the Brodnica National Defence Battalion, with which he followed the combat route of the September 1939 campaign. After being taken prisoner, he prudently understated his rank. As a result, he was in the group that left the camp walls on 15 October 1939. He finally settled in Kroczyn, where he undertook to organise secret teaching. At the end of 1942, T. Nowicki joined in the creation of a military structure in Chełm poviat, which eventually took the name of the Peasant Battalions. He took part in the actions carried out as part of the „Storm” Operation. He was arrested on 7 December 1944 by a PUBP officer in Chełm.
On 15 September 1945, T. Nowicki was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. After his release from prison, he settled down with his family in Przyjma near Golina. He was a man of great merit for Poland, but above all for his small homeland. This is all the more noteworthy because Przyjma, or more broadly the Golina municipality, was his place on earth by choice, not by birth. However, he was able to devote to this land and especially to the people living here all his talents and life energy, which he did not lack.
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Słowa kluczowe: seals, Izbica Kujawska, Nowa Izbica, Izbica, Janana, Izbica Kujawska, evangelicals, Lutherans, Pasieka, Sarnowo, Tymień, Richard Kneifel, Ryszard Paszko, Gottfried Steinke, Protestantism, Kujawy, evangelical church, Eastern Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), Prószków, Agricultural Academy, landed gentry, farming, education, Izbica Kujawska, municipal administration, municipal economy, the Kingdom of Poland, 19th century, Kingdom of Poland (1822–1866), Russian Partition, Izbica Kujawska, Jews, Synagogue Executive Council, Rabbis, Uprising, insurgent camp, everyday life, difficult weather conditions, volunteers, diseases, Izbica Kujawska, “Gazeta Kaliska”, regional periodicals, Sisters of Charity, Holy Spirit Hospital, Konin, Sisters of Mercy, nursing care, Koło, elementary education, development of education, students, problems of reviving education, The military, sport, Kalisz, Inter-war period, youth, conspiracy, Stalinist period, Kalisz district, Kalisz, Prison Service Training Center in Szczypiorno, National Day of Poland’s Revival, prison system in PRL, history of PRL, local government elections, city mayors, Greater Poland, voting preferences, Civic Platform, Law and Justice, Konin, Kalisz, Genealogy, Koźminek, Lisków, Kalisz, nobility, Church certificate, baptisms, marriages, funerals, Kalisz, Józef Piłsudski, Gazeta Kaliska, 29th Kaniowski Rifle Regiment, banner, Stefania Sempołowska, political prisoners, aid, documents, Second Polish Republic, Kulmhof death camp, Chełmno, District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Łódź, Zofia Nałkowska, report, Koło, mayor, notary, barber, Walenty Tomczykowic, Greater Poland, Przyjemski family, magnates, modern times, Przyjma, Golina, national and liberation work, the January Uprising, the Kujawy and Kalisz Diocese, Rev. Piotr Kobyliński, Fr. Józef Mężnicki, consumers cooperatives, social activity, the Diocese of Kujawy and Kalisz, Russian partition, Second Polish Republic, Włodzimierz Pietrzak (1913-1944), literary periodicals, underground press, biographical studies, Conspiracy, Peasants’ Battalions, Home Army, partisans, anti-communist underground, Golina, Konin, Poviat Security Office, Lublin region. Red Army, agriculture, farmers’ association, crops

Funding information

Tom sfinansowany przez Urząd Miejski w Izbicy Kujawskiej