Pursuant to the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, western parts of the Duchy of Warsaw (with Poznań and Bydgoszcz) were incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia as the Grand Duchy of Posen/the Province of Posen. Although the new ruler, Frederick William III , guaranteed tolerance for the Catholic religion practiced by most of the region’s inhabitants, this did not extend to monasteries and convents (a total of 57 sites with 454 monks and 119 nuns). These were to be gradually reduced in number, and ultimately — dissolved altogether. At the same time, circumstances did not allow for radical solutions of the kind adopted in Silesia in 1810. The plan of Prussian authorities involved a “natural” dissolution of monasteries and convents through a gradual reduction in the numbers of monks and nuns (for example by eliminating novitiate) and secularization. The implementation of these solutions accelerated after the outbreak of the November Uprising, and the subsequent designation of Eduard Flottwell as the governor. Under an administrative decision of March 31, 1833, the remaining congregations in the Grand Duchy were to be completely dissolved within 3 years. The process ultimately ended in 1841 with the death of the last reformation commissioner, and the dissolution of the Bernardine monastery in Górka (near Łobżenica) soon after. The only congregations left in the territory of the Duchy were the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in Poznań and the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Gostyń, as the Prussian authorities considered them useful.

The paper discusses the reception of “Łukasiński” — one of the most important historical works by Szymon Askenazy, first published in Warsaw in 1908. At that time, it was a hefty, twovolume publication, 400 pages each. The title itself — “Łukasiński” — may suggest just a biography of Walerian Łukasiński, a Polish independence activist and founder of the National Freemasonry and the Patriotic Society, but its content is much broader. It explores not only the tragic life of Łukasiński, but also the history of Polish secret patriotic associations and the political situation in the Kingdom of Poland in the years 1815–1830. Even the first reviewers of the book, publishing in the years 1908–1909, remarked on how rich it was. They pointed to the timeliness of Askenazy’s work — in the early 20th century, the book fit into the growing independence movement in Poland. The time when “Łukasiński” was written and first published heavily affected its reception. Similar reactions followed the second edition of the book, published in 1929 — also in Warsaw, but already in independent Poland. At that time, its reception was affected by the historical policy of the Sanation, in which the pro-independence conspiracy played an important role. “Łukasiński” was reprinted in the years 2005–2006, based on the second edition, but it did not spark as much interest and was mainly addressed to historians rather than the general audience. Therefore, one may conclude that the circumstances and politics surrounding the publication of subsequent editions of “Łukasiński” largely determined how the work was received at each time.

Helena and Ludwik Stolarzewicz undoubtedly played an important role in the scientific and cultural life of Łódź in the inter-war period. They were active in many fields — both academic and social — which placed them among the most recognizable figures in the humanist circles in Łódź. The works of the Stolarzewiczs were mainly devoted to literature, but they received Życie i działalność Ludwika i Heleny Stolarzewiczów na tle życia literackiego... 77 mixed reviews — which was particularly true in the case of Ludwik. Nowadays, they have become somewhat forgotten. Describing the life and scientific work of the Stolarzewiczs is nonetheless a major step towards an understanding of the overall culture of Łódź back then. Press articles published in Łódź, which often described the activities of the two scholars, are among the most important sources allowing one to learn their history. Their own published works also provide much valuable information, as do the memoirs of the Łódź writers from the described period.

After Poland’s rise to independence, the process of Jewish emigration from Greater Poland, already noticeable before, increased in intensity. Jews left behind a lot of infrastructure and real estate, as well various material possessions, mostly in houses of worship. Maintaining them turned out to exceed the financial capacity of those members of the Jewish community who stayed there. In 1932, a regulation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education was published, requiring Jewish religious communities most affected by emigration to be incorporated into larger ones, in order to enable the maintenance of the remaining property. Correspondence between the municipal authorities and the local qahal, kept in the “City of Gniezno Files” archival fond, allows to track the gradual appropriation of property from centers incorporated into the Jewish community in Gniezno. It also makes it possible to list movable and immovable property and assess its value at that time. The sources also reveal some conflicts between Jews from the dissolved communities and those from the Gniezno Jewish religious community.

In 1936, new plans were developed to reorganize the network of Jewish religious communities. These involved the incorporation of the Wągrowiec province into the Gniezno community, or alternatively, incorporation of one of the provinces belonging to the Gniezno community into the Wągrowiec community (in fact, the only one that could be incorporated in this way was the Żnin province). In the end, the national administration withdrew from this idea. Two years later, in connection with a reform introducing a new administrative division in Poland, ideas for a spatial reorganization of Jewish communities appeared again. However, no such changes were made before the Second World War.

The organization of chancelleries and the work methods used there significantly affected the records produced, and as a result — the fonds remaining at archival institutions where some of these records are stored. The article discusses the beginnings and conditions of the establishment of communal administration in Greater Poland after the end of the war in 1945. It presents the chancellery regulations used in administration offices, as well as their staffing levels, qualifications, and remuneration.

In the years 1946–1947, the communist authorities gradually eliminated their legal political opposition gathered in the Polish People’s Party. The amnesty that followed turned out to be a deadly blow to the so-called underground state, whose members continued their activity after the Second World War. Under these circumstances, the opposition of youth, growing up in post-war Poland, gradually gained in significance. The progressing Sovietization of social life in Poland was met with various forms of opposition and resistance in these circles, and prompted spontaneous acts of conspiracy among school-goers. Such initiatives were also born in Greater Poland. They did not pose any real threat for the communist state, but the authorities treated them seriously and responded with acts of repression. This is discussed in the present paper, based on examples from various parts of the region.

The Historical Commission, established in Paris in March 1940, can be considered the first archival cell of the Air Force, however, it never became operational. Records of the Air Force were evacuated in June 1940 to the United Kingdom by office workers, and deposited in Blackpool. In September 1940, the Records Liquidation Commission of the former Air Force Command in Paris was established, and existed until March 1941. After that time, its activities came to a halt. Based on its structures, in December 1941, the Aviation Historical Bureau was established. Its tasks included gathering, processing, and storing documents. In January 1945, the Bureau was incorporated into the Archival and Museum Services, and in July, the Bureau was transferred to Dunholme Lodge, where it remained until 1948, when it terminated its operations. In the final years of its existence, the Historical Bureau mainly dealt with processing and classifying the collections. Eventually, the records and memorabilia kept by the Air Force were deposited in the Sikorski Historical Institute in London.

The article discusses the problems that the State Archive in Poznań struggled with soon after the termination of military operations and in the first years of its existence, i.e. until 1951. The main sources for this paper include reports and working plans drafted in the State Archive in Poznań in the years 1945–1951, as well as the operating standards regulating the work of this institution. The publication also raises the issue of protecting and gathering archival materials, as well as the difficulties posed by the complete destruction of the building and the resulting lack of appropriate spaces for secure storage of both new records and files, and ones recovered after the war.

The digitization of medieval diplomas that are the property of the Wróblewski Library at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (formerly the Eustachy and Emilia Wróblewscy State Library in Vilnius) and sharing them with scholars in color and high resolution has enabled the verification of previous findings regarding some of the oldest documents of the Poznań commandery of the Knights of the Order of St John — namely, diplomas no. 104 and 117, and to some degree diploma no. 213, from the Greater Poland Diplomatic Code, vol. 1.

The paper aims at presenting a specific historical source, namely notarial annuity provisions typically included in sale agreements, but also used in acts of donation and wills. The analyzed source comes from the inter-war period and concerns a village in the Kujawy and Greater Poland borderland (former Prussian territory). In the first part, the author presents the dynamically developing field of history that is history of the elderly. Then, the determinants of the specific character of the elderly in rural areas are described. The next part discusses the concept of old age established in “magical culture” (or “myth”), which is mainly reconstructed by ethnologists and historians of old age. Afterwards, the determinants of annuities during the Prussian occupation are demonstrated. The inter-war period is analyzed based on sample excerpts from annuity agreements, with interpretation of these documents and the way they were implemented in reality. The paper ends with conclusions and a reference to similar documents still being drafted now.

In the resolution of the Council of Ministers of December 29, 1948, the State undertook to finance the funeral of an exceptional pianist, Professor Raul Koczalski, who died on November 24 and was buried on November 29 in Poznań. This decision is the subject of this article. For the author, this decision of the government, and in particular — of prime minister Józef Cyrankiewicz — is the ultimate proof that the state dismissed the unsubstantiated accusations that appeared after the Second World War concerning the alleged collaboration between the artist and Nazi war criminals. The author discusses the final artistic achievements of Koczalski, and compares the cost of his funeral and the time in which it was reimbursed with other state-organized funerals in the years 1947–1948. He also comments on the legal acts adopted in the years 1954, 1960, and 1990, in which the power to make decisions regarding the financing of funerals of distinguished individuals was passed first to the top ministers, and then the Prime Minister personally.

The Polish Catholic Mission Archive in Paris is home to fond no. 36: Letters to Polish primate Józef Glemp. It comprises letters sent by French citizens to the Polish Catholic Church dignitary, in which they condemn the introduction of martial law in Poland and express spiritual support for all Poles — brothers and sisters in the Catholic faith. The letter writing campaign was initiated by the Catholic paper “La Croix”, and was an element of a broader manifestation of French support for Poles. Beside template letters based on the text published in “La Croix”, the fond also includes personal messages, expressing an emotional attitude to Poles and to the events taking place in Poland. The paper discusses those letters whose authors reminisce on the Second World War and their experiences in concentration camps. Former French prisoners of war describe their relations with Polish prisoners, emphasizing their heroism and faith in God.

The paper presents the remaining materials from the Education History Museum in Gdynia, whose opening was planned in the late 1980s, but with no success. The source materials created in preparation for the opening of the Museum survived and are kept in three institutions in the Tri-City: the Gdynia City Museum, the Gdynia branch of the Polish Teachers’ Union, and the Regional Educational Library in Gdańsk. The various archival materials include documents, pamphlets, and photographs, among others.