Click on a subject below to view a list of weblinks
Websites in Polish are marked with a flag
French links indicated by a flag.
The icon indicates film and documentary links
The Middle East: Persia (Iran), Iraq, Palestine and Egypt
Poland in World War 2 – General
Polish exiles in Africa, India, New Zealand, Australia and Mexico
Deportations to Siberia
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The Polish Diaspora Project
This is the website for an oral history project where Polish Displaced Persons and ex-Servicemen and Women from all over the world tell their stories. Members and students of the Polish Diaspora are invited to become involved by sharing their experiences and documents.
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Polish-Soviet WW2 claims and testimony
about the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement to divide Poland in 1939, useful links on the deportations, and info on the initiative to see up a Fund for Polish Victims of Soviet Crimes of Genocide and Deportations in WW 2
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Deportation, ‘Amnesty’ and the Polish Diaspora
Lecture by Prof. Tadeusz Piotrowski for the Polish-Canadian publication ‘Miedzy Nami’
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Land of Darkness
deportation article by the Polish Humanitarian Society in Canada. Includes details of their ongoing work to help those Poles left behind (in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania) after Stalin’s armistice. Society’s contact details given
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The General Langfitt Story:
Polish Refugees Recount Their Experiences of Exile, Dispersal and Resettlement; story (and photos) made available by the Australian Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs
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Kolyma (Siberia) – the Land of Gold and Death
detailed autobiography by Polish soldier and survivor of Kolyma, Stanislaw J. Kowalski
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White Auschwitz of Kolyma
a second (shorter) account of Kolyma by Stanislaw J. Kowalski
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The History of the Czapski family
has useful articles about the deportations, on the Association of Former Pupils of Polish Schools, about reunions of Sybiraks, and a list of links to other sites.
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Poland’s Holocaust – A Family Chronicle of Soviet and Nazi Terror
the memoirs of Janina Sulkowska-Gladun.
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Pictures from Siberia from a Polish Soldier after September 1939
The family of Zbigniew Ireneusz Wajszczuk recounts his experiences as a survivor of the deportations through photos and maps
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Tales of the Deported – My life in exile 1939-1946
the online memoirs of Danuta Gradosielska (nee Maczka)
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A Siberian Diary
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By cattle truck into slavery
the online memoirs of Feliks Chustecki.
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Poland-Siberia 1941: the knock on the door
Part 1 of the online memoirs of Romuald Lipinski for ‘Timewitness’
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Pologne – Sibérie 1941: on frappe a la porte
Partie 1 des memoires ‘Timewitness’ de Romuald Lipinski
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The journey to Siberia
Part 2 of the online memoirs of Romuald Lipinski for ‘Timewitness’
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Le voyage en Sibérie
Partie 2 des memoires ‘Timewitness’ de Romuald Lipinski
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Trying to get enough to eat
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Part 3 of the online memoirs of Romuald Lipinski for ‘Timewitness’
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Essayer de manger a sa faim – (3)
Partie 3 des memoires ‘Timewitness’ de Romuald Lipinski
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The Bath
Part 4 of the online memoirs of Romuald Lipinski for ‘Timewitness’
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Le bain
Partie 4 des memoires ‘Timewitness’ de Romuald Lipinski
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Death by a Thousand Cuts
Zofia Ptasnik’s diary of deportation, forced labour, and death in Kazakhstan: April 13, 1940-May 26, 1941
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BLANK PAGES – The Soviet Genocide against the Polish People
review of book by G.C. Malcher with publisher details.
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Polish deportees in the Soviet Union
excerpts from book by Michael Hope
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The Horror Trains: A Polish Woman Veteran’s Memoir of World War II
review of book by Wanda E. Pomykalski.
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The Brief Sun – a novel
Robert Ambros tells the story of 16 year old Andrzej and his companions in a Northern Siberian labor camp in 1941, and beyond
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Six Years ‘Til Spring – A Polish Family’s Odyssey
review of autobiography by Teresa Mikosz-Hreview of historical novel by Robert Aintzke
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September 17, 1939 – The Soviet aggression on Poland
links to a virtual photo exhibition
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Na Czerwonym Szlaku (On the Red Trail)
the memoirs of Stanislaw J. Kowalski
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Polish children Beg for Help in 1942
Petition to General Wielikowski at the Polish War Mission from Polish citizens Alfreda Borowska and Lidia Fiedorowna
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The deportation story of Eugenia Lipinska Stankiewicz
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The Siberic Gehenna: Travails of the Poplewski Family
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Soviet Labor Camps & Gulags
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GULAG website
Labor in the USSR is a Matter of Honor, Courage, and Heroism (sign over the gulag camps gates)
A substantial list of weblinks relating to the subject -
The GULAG collection – Images of the camps by Nikolai Getman
website belonging to The Jamestown Foundation, Washington
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The NKVD – Soviet secret police
website of information about the crimes and victims of the NKVD – still in part under construction
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Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski – his deportation and experience in Siberia
memoirs and information regarding the experiences of Witold and Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski
DP Camps
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Northwick Park, Springhill Camp
History, map and information about camp life and traditions
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Foxley Camp
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Tweedsmuir Military Camp
Dedicated to both the Canadian soldiers billeted there during WWII and to the displaced Polish families
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DP camps in various countries
Katyn
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Katedra Polowa
List of several thousand names entered in the memory records and “Białoruska lista Katyńska” with the names of all KOP (Border Patrol) officers/members murdered in 1940
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Katyn – Family Stories
moving accounts by relatives of men arrested and put to death in the Katyn forest
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Katyn – The Forest Massacre
includes history, maps, useful weblinks, and photographs
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The Lost 10,000
A September 1979 article by Louis FitzGibbon
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A Katyn Diary of Leon Gladun, Polish Officer
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Katyn Memorial Wall
Includes background, copy of Stalin’s order, and Memorial Wall of names of the murdered
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The Katyn Forest Massacre: Morals in American Foreign Policy
an essay by Prof. Janusz K. Zawodny, PhD
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The Katyn Massacre: An Assessment of its Significance as a Public and Historical Issue in the United States and Great Britain, 1940-1993
A thesis presented to the Department of History Western Illinois University by Louis Robert Coatney, December 1993
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Katyn photographs
Photographs of the Katyn massacre. Most of these photographs were taken by the Germans and published in: Der Massenmord in Walde von Katyn Ein Tatsachenbericht (The Massacre in the Katyn Forest an Examination of the Evidence), Germany, 1943
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Katyn Forest massacre – Final report to US Congress
Final Report of the Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation and Study of the Facts, Evidence and Circumstances on the Katyn Forest Massacre of the United States House of Representatives (22 December 1952): This report is 54 pages in pdf form. The entire report is over 2,000 pages long and not on-line
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Katyn photographs
In Part I, a brief account of the Special Operations Executive and its records explains the nature of the documentation. This sets the context for Part II, a short study on the Katyn massacre and the British Government’s reaction to it. Because of the covert nature of SOE operations, and their focus on propaganda and sabotage as part of the war effort, these files cast a new perspective on a number of wartime issues.
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A Special Operations Executive (UK) perspective
Photographs of the Katyn massacre. Most of these photographs were taken by the Germans and published in: Der Massenmord in Walde von Katyn Ein Tatsachenbericht (The Massacre in the Katyn Forest an Examination of the Evidence), Germany, 1943
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British reactions to the Katyn Massacre, 1943-2003
The centrepiece is a previously unpublished memorandum by the late Dr. Rohan D’Olier Butler, Historical Adviser to Secretaries of State from 1963-1982. He was set the task in 1972 of bringing together, for internal use, all the available evidence from British official records. The ‘Butler memorandum’ documents in detail the views of the British Government on Katyn from 1943 on. It therefore gives an accurate account of what the British Government knew about Katyn, and why they maintained the public line about the massacre throughout the Cold War
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Our Shame Still Lies in Katyn Forest
by Kevin Myers, The Telegraph, London April 27, 2003
by Benjamin B. Fischer, CIA
In this testimony, German and Soviet experts contradict each other as to when the deaths occurred
The Middle East
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Short video of the Polish Cemetary in Tehran
Short video of the Polish Cemetary in Tehran by Michael Kruszewski. Shows the entrance, the monument and the general appearance of the cemetery. Narrated.
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For the Life of a Child
History of Filipina Stadnicka in Tehran, a Polish survivor of the gulags
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Tales of the Persian Corridor
Documentary on the story of American servicemen, Soviet officers and civilians who played a crucial role in supplying the Soviet Union with badly-needed military equipment via Iran during World War II
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Bridge to Victory in Iran
An excerpt from “On Borrowed Wings” by Robert D. Burgener on the activities of the Allied forces in Iran during World War II
Poland in World War 2 – General
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Poland In Exile
This web site is dedicated to the men and women who left Poland to fight against the Nazis and Russian Communism in the 1939 – 1945 War. Includes information on the Polish Airforce, Polish Army, Polish Resettlement, The Warsaw Rising, The Home Army, Blackpool 1940, Enigma and other stories
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Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941 – The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
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Warsaw Uprising
This site is dedicated to all those who fought for their freedom in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 as well as all those who, as civilians, perished in the effort.
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The Poles – Victims of the Nazi Era
Originally published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a pamphlet titled ‘POLES’. Briefly covers invasion, occupation, kidnapping of children, forced labour camps and Polish resistance. Includes a bibliography
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The Nazi Occupation of Poland
EyeWitness – history through the eyes of those who lived it
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The Soviet Occupation of Poland
A verbatim transcript of the publication “The Soviet Occupation of Poland”, Free Europe Pamphlet #3, edited by Casimir Smogorzewski. It was originally published in December 1940 and so provides a unique early view of the occupation, before Katyn was discovered
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Nazi-Soviet “Non-Aggression” Treaty
The text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact including the unpublished secret additional protocol relating to Poland
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Nazi-Soviet “Non-Aggression” Treaty
Another site which provides the text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact including the unpublished secret additional protocol relating to Poland
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Genocide of the Poles in the Kresy Region
This website, in Polish and English, describes the 1943-44 murderous ethnic cleansing of the Polish population in the eastern borderlands of the Lwow, Tarnopol, Wolyn andStanislawow voivodeships by Ukrainian nationalists whilst under Nazi German occupation. Some maps and a searchable database are included
WARNING – contains graphic images which may be highly upsetting -
A list of printed publications describing Polish victims of WWII
Slavic and East European Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Polish Forces in World War 2
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Le Marche Regions Photos
A complete set of 7727 images from Le Marche region {Ancona} which are held in the Sikorski Museum in London
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Virtuti Militari Recipients
Provides information about VM recipients – Surname, Name, Rank, Division, Badge Class and Dates
WARNING Other parts of this website contain graphic images which may be highly upsetting -
Scotland and Poland
site dedicated to providing information about Polonica and the Polish Armed Forces in Scotland. Also includes information about war graves
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The London Allied Victory Parade – June 8, 1946
how the ‘Poles are not invited’ – article by Rudolf Falkowski
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The dilemma facing the Polish Armed Forces at the end of WW 2
“To return or not to return?”: the thesis of Dr Mark Ostrowski
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Polish American Living History Association
re-enactment group.
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Armia Krajowa – Polish Resistance in WW 2 – La Résistance Polonaise
historical site in Polish, English and French
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Information brochure about the ‘School of Junior Volunteers’ (Szkola Mlodszych Ochotniczek)
Scanned document on the website of Zbigniew Ireneusz Wajszczuk – a survivor of the deportations and a Polish soldier.
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Polish Armed Forces in Exile
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Polskie Dziala–Polish Cannons
Historical and previously unpublished song lyrics and melody, written about the epic battle for Monte Cassino
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10th Dragoons, Polish 1st Armored Division
A page about the history of the 10th dragoons by Matt Maciolek. Includes their history, pictures and Polish commands and dictionary
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1st Polish Armoured Division
A page by David Ryan and Stuart Groombridge including a summary in Polish and English of the operational history and order of battle.
Polish Exiles
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Polish World War II refugees in Iran
by Robert D. Burgener
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Colonia Santa Rosa .
about the Santa Rosa community of Poles
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Terra Nova – a land of milk and honey
celebrating Polish immigration and settlement in Australia after the war
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Polish Children’s Home Oudtshoorn, South Africa 1942-1947
History and roster of names of the 500 Polish children sent to an orphanage in the Union of South Africa, where they remained until after the conclusion of the Second World War
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Names of Polish children refugees in Lebanon, Africa, India, New Zealand, Australia, and Mexico
Polish History – General
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An overview of early Polish history between the years, 623-1194
includes bibliography
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The Polish-Russian War and the Fight for Polish Independence, 1918-1921
A historical background of the Soviet-Polish war after World War 1 that set the eastern border – includes references and bibliography.
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The Sarmatian Review – a triannual publication of the Polish Institute of Houston
a scholarly journal on the history, culture, and society of Central and Eastern Europe, with b attention to Poland, the post-Soviet period, and American emigration and ethnic issues
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A Brief History of Poland in the last 200 years
Changes in boundaries and reasons why, from 1772 to 1945
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Maps and Polish History from the 9th century to the present
A brief description with maps of the history of Poland
Directories & Maps
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Archival Maps of Poland 1919-1939
These topographical maps are from the Polish Military Geographical Institute. They were rated amongs the best in the world.
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Shtetlseeker town locator
search towns in Central and Eastern Europe, to display latitude and longitude for each location, as well as location on an interactive map
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Detailed map of Ukraine online
Ukraine is broken into regions, and these into areas surrounding major towns. Place names appear in English, Polish and Ukrainian
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Map of Poland 1921-1939
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Ordering detailed Pre-war maps of Poland, including the Kresy
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Ordering high quality maps of the USSR from the former Soviet General Staff
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An interactive map of Poland (with search)
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A pre-war map of Lwow
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Polish Genealogical Society of America’s gazetteer
for locating places that were at one time or another (up to the end of 19th century) under Polish rule
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Slownik geograficzny (1880-1914)
A very detailed gazetteer of Polish placenames; the main source of information for the one listed above
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Polish phone book
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Canada phone book
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USA phonebook
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Ukraine phone book
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The 1929 Polish business directory
You can search for a village, town or city and it shows all the trades carried on as well as the names of those people carrying out the business in alphabetical order. It also gives details of the place, e.g. number of inhabitants, location, nearest railway, if there was a church etc. It lists almost every town and village in Poland
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Rocznik oficerski (Officers’ Annual) 1932
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1924 ——
1928Publications listing all Polish officers in active service with their names, ranks, units and functions.
The Kresy
includes history of the Kresy, geography, maps, photographs, useful links page and personal accounts of deportees
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Genocide committed by Ukrainian Nationalists on the Polish population of Volhynia (Wolyn) during World War II
includes statistics, photographs and first-hand accounts. Based on the work by work by Wladyslaw Siemaszko and Ewa Siemaszko. In English and Polish
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Voice of Emigration and Kresy Quarterly (G³os Emigracji i Kwartalnik Kresowy)
published in London by Romuald Wiernik, now defunct
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Wolyn – a history then and now
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Kresy statistics
contains i.a. a breakdown of the Kresy Population according to the 1931 census and a few basic statistics on the Second Corps
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Poles Murdered in Kresy by UPA Ukrainian nationalists 1942-1947
List compiled by the Polish Eastern Association (Polski Zwiazek Wschodni) in Przemysl
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Wo³yn Naszych Przodków – The Wolhynia of our Ancestors
This site in Polish and includes over 500 photographs categorized by region
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100 top websites about Kresy
Archive Resources
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The Hoover Institution – an overview of the Polish Collection
The Hoover Institution Archives houses the largest repository of documents pertaining to twentieth-century Poland outside of Warsaw
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The Hoover Institution – Search Tool
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The Jozef Pilsudski Institute of America
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The Electronic Museum – The Santa Rosa Polish refugee colony, Mexico
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The Electronic Museum – Soviet Deportations of Polish Nationals
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Archives of the Polish Ministry of Information and Documentation, 1943
stored at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
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The KARTA organisation – Names of Poles Repressed by the Soviet Union
from the KARTA Center – an independent NGO, documenting and popularizing the recent history of Poland and Eastern Europe
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Rogozinski Papers
Papers of a former Polish Army officer and immigrant to Milwaukee engaged in organizing the Association of Veterans of the Second World War in the Polish Armed Forces. Included are several albums compiled by Rogozinski containing papers, copies of documents, photographs, and text, concerning himself, other Polish immigrants, and veterans’ activities. Also included is a small newsclippings file about Rogozinski and the Association
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Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees
Finding aid to records in the US Department of State, of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees
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Archival Sources for the Study of Polish Canadians
Based on Myron Momryk’s “Archival Sources For The Study Of Polish Canadians”
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American Relief for Poland- Archives
Finding aid to records, 1929-1968, of the Philadelphia Chapter of American Relief for Poland. Consist of correspondence, minutes, financial records, and other materials relating to the chapter’s aid to Poland, Polish refugees, and Polish prisoners of war, particularly during World War II
Genealogical Resources
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The UK National Archives
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The Polish Roots website
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The Federation of Eastern European Family History Societies
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On-line Lwów Phone Directory (in Ukrainian)
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Genealogy of Halychyna / Eastern Galicia
The site, run by Matthew Bielawa, includes a guide to deciphering Latin records in Eastern Galicia (incl. Lvov)
Associations & Groups
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The Siberian Exiles Association (Lodz)
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The Siberian Exiles Association (Wroclaw)
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Zjednoczenie Polskie w Wielkiej Brytanii – Federation of Poles in Great Britain
Organisation list
Including many from Kresy
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Kadeci II Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
Members of Korpus Kadetów, graduates of three Polish secondary schools with additional military training
Miscellaneous
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Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
at the University of Minnesota
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Polish Medals and Militaria
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The Message of Pope John Paul II for the 1996 Fiftieth Anniversary of Monte Cassino
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The Monument to the Slain Polish Populace of the Kresy Regions in Wroclaw
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The Monument to the Poles Exiled to Siberia in Wroclaw
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National Katyn Memorial Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland
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British Pathe film archives available on-line – including many about Poland in WW 2
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Travel to the Ukraine
Ukraine travel tips bulletin board
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The Polish Spirit
Web Resource for all interested in exploring general Polish issues, but especially for material relating to the deportations during World War II