Council of Ministers Prezydium Rady Ministrów (PRM)
Extent and Medium
8,342 digital images, JPEG
Creator(s)
- Rzad Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchod?stwie
Biographical History
Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie (Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile) was established after Germany and the Soviet Union occupied Poland in September 1939. The Polish government-in-exile was first based in Paris, but moved to London after the French army surrendered to the Germans in the mid-1940s. The Allied powers accepted the government-in-exile as the legitimate representative of the Polish people soon after it was created. The Polish government allied itself with the Allied powers, as its members believed that only a total military victory over Germany would restore Poland's independence and freedom. The government-in-exile led the Polish war effort throughout World War II, and amassed its own land, air, and naval forces. In addition, it commanded the largest underground army of the war, the Armia Krajowa (the Polish Home Army). In 1942, reports about the mass murder of Jews in Poland reached London. At that point, the Polish government-in-exile made several public declarations on the subject, and officially demanded that the Allied powers stop the Germans from continuing their campaign to murder Jews, and other individuals they deemed undesirable. From December 1942 onward, the government-in-exile backed the rescue work of Zegota, which offered aid to Jews throughout occupied Poland.
Archival History
Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie
Acquisition
Forms part of the Claims Conference International Holocaust Documentation Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This archive consists of documentation whose reproduction and/or acquisition was made possible with funding from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Source of acquisition is the Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego, London, England, created by the Prezydium Rady Ministrów (PRM) (Council of Ministers of the Polish Government in Exile).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the digitized collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Programs in October 2010.
Scope and Content
Contains selected records from the Council of Ministers of the Polish government-in-exile, under Prime Ministers Władysław Sikorski (1939-1943), Stanisław Mikołajczyk (1943-1944), Tomasz Arciszewski (1944-1947), and Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (1947-1949). Documents included pertain to agreements and relations with foreign governments, military and territorial problems, the situation in Poland under German and Soviet occupations, organization and activities of the Polish Resistance Movement in Poland and other states, plight of the Jews, and aspects of Polish Government activities between the years of 1939 and 1947.
System of Arrangement
Organized in the following four series: 1.The Prime Minister’s personal papers (PRM); 2. The Secretariat (PRM-K); 3.The so-called “Mrs. Lieberman Archives” (PRM-L); 4. The so-called “Zarański Archives” (PRM-Z).
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie
People
- Mikołajczyk, Stanisław, 1901-1966.
- Arciszewski, Tomasz, 1877-1955.
- Bór-Komorowski, Tadeusz, 1895-1966.
- Sikorski, Władysław, 1881-1943.
Corporate Bodies
- Department of Information and Press
- Rzeczpospolita Polska (Government-in-exile)
Subjects
- Jews--Poland--Politics and government.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
- World War, 1939-1945--Governments in exile--Sources.
- Poland--Foreign relations--Norway.
- Poland.
- Poland--Foreign relations--United States.
Genre
- Document
Copies
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum holds copies of Holocaust-relevant archives from Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego