The collection of underground prints from the Martial Law times in Poland

The article refers to the collection gathered by the author of the present text, mainly „post stamps” which were published underground among other “out of cencorship” publications after the introduction of Martial Law which was proclaimed on the 13th of December 1981. One of the first publications, and maybe even the first one, was an analysis of the legal grounds for the Martial Law, printed with the use of a duplicating machine, signed by the “Jagiellonian University lawyers”. Among those anonymous lawyers was Andrzej Zoll, later the President of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The publishing activity started to flourish quickly in various underground structures. There were fliers, calendars and finally books; postcards and “post stamps” started to be issued. The present collection includes mainly the publications published in Warsaw or those that were brought there. There are also publications from Lublin. In Warsaw one of the collecting points where one could pick “out of censorship” publications was located at Górnośląska Street in the apartment of Mr and Ms Bart; from the Lublin district they were delivered by my husband’s nephew, Jan Dutkiewicz, who was active there. I delivered the underground publications mainly to the Jagiellonian Library, and distributed what was left among friends leaving some part for myself. First of all, I gathered post stamps. Initially, the quality of the print was very primitive, however, it improved later. Sometimes the underground stamps resembled the official ones, published by the state postal service. I put two of those stamps on letters, one to my husband and one to myself. The post office stamped them and the postman delivered them to the addressees.

The complete collection was donated to the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.

The article refers to the collection gathered by the author of the present text, mainly „post stamps” which were published underground among other “out of cencorship” publications after the introduction of Martial Law which was proclaimed on the 13th of December 1981. One of the first publications, and maybe even the first one, was an analysis of the legal grounds for the Martial Law, printed with the use of a duplicating machine, signed by the “Jagiellonian University lawyers”. Among those anonymous lawyers was Andrzej Zoll, later the President of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The publishing activity started to flourish quickly in various underground structures. There were fliers, calendars and finally books; postcards and “post stamps” started to be issued. The present collection includes mainly the publications published in Warsaw or those that were brought there. There are also publications from Lublin. In Warsaw one of the collecting points where one could pick “out of censorship” publications was located at Górnośląska Street in the apartment of Mr and Ms Bart; from the Lublin district they were delivered by my husband’s nephew, Jan Dutkiewicz, who was active there. I delivered the underground publications mainly to the Jagiellonian Library, and distributed what was left among friends leaving some part for myself. First of all, I gathered post stamps. Initially, the quality of the print was very primitive, however, it improved later. Sometimes the underground stamps resembled the official ones, published by the state postal service. I put two of those stamps on letters, one to my husband and one to myself. The post office stamped them and the postman delivered them to the addressees.

The complete collection was donated to the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.