Biblioteka Jagiellońska

The history of the Jagiellonian Library is closely related with the history of the Jagiellonian University. It came into existence in the 14th century. The handbooks and scientific dissertations were gathered in the departments and colleges. They originated mostly from donations of the professors and graduates. These books were concerning the law, medicine, theology and philosophy. The biggest collection was situated in the Great College (Collegium Maius). The library was located in this building to 1940. In 1940, the library was relocated to the new building. In this year it was renamed Staatsbibliothek Krakau. The holdings of Library were enlarged very quickly after 1945, because of donations, exchanges with various European libraries and "obligatory copy" regulation. From 1969 one of "obligatory copies" is excluded from the common access as an archival collection of publications. Nowadays, the Library works on the base of modern computer systems of catalogues, databases and exchange of information.

There are interesting materials to be found in the collections of the Jagiellonian University Library, particularly in the manuscripts section. Examples include:

1. Papiery Michała Weicherta 1945-1957 (The papers of Michał Weichert), 23 items. During the occupation Weichert hold the post of the president of the Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna (Jewish Social Self-Help),
2. Weichert’s private correspondence and studies; files entitled “Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna 1939-1945” (ŻSS, Jewish Social Self-Help), “Polityka eksterminacyjna okupanta hitlerowskiego wobec ludności żydowskiej w tzw. GG” (The extermination policy of the Nazi occupiers toward the Jewish population in the ‘GG’), “Eksterminacja gospodarcza ludności żydowskiej Rzeszy w świetle ustawodawstwa hitlerowskiego” (The economic extermination of the Jewish population of the Reich in light of Nazi legislation), official copies of the trial before Specjalny Sąd Karny (the Special Criminal Court) in Krakow (the originals of the files are in the IPN), official copies of materials from the trial before the Sąd Społeczny (People’s Court) affiliated to the Central Committee of the Jews in Poland (CKŻP; the originals of the files are in ŻIH), biographic materials, notes, and certifications of the work of the ŻSS, materials relating to the allocation of medication and aid to children, minutes and reports on the work of the ŻSS, notes on Krakow dated 1940-1944, correspondence with Rada Główna Opiekuńcza (RGO, the Central Welfare Council), various outgoing correspondences (including letters to the Jewish councils in many places across the GG), and official letters from Gmina Wyznaniowa Żydowska (the Jewish Community) in Krakow and many other institutions to the ŻSS dated 1940-1942,
3. Przyb. 73/79. Papiery Krakowskiego Stowarzyszenia Ogrodów Działkowych 1940-42 (Papers of the Krakow Allotments Association), various documents and lists of Jewish forced labourers employed to work on the municipal green spaces in Krakow,
4. Miscellaneous papers of the head of press services (“Telepress”) in the Government of the GG 1939-1943.

A. Skibinska (ed.), chapter 5.