Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum

Coordinates: 51°30′5″N 0°10′24″W / 51.50139°N 0.17333°W / 51.50139; -0.17333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
Formation2 May 1945
TypeLearned society
Registration no.312168
Legal statusRegistered charity
PurposeArchival, educational, historical, and museological
Headquarters20 Prince's Gate, London, SW7 1PT
ServicesResearch and publications, lectures and events, heritage conservation, and exhibitions
Chairman
Danuta Bildziuk
Head of Archives
Andrzej Suchcitz
Websitewww.pism.org.uk

The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum (

Poland during World War II and the Polish diaspora. It is a non-governmental organisation managed by scholars from the Polish community in the United Kingdom, housed at 20 Prince's Gate in West London, in a Grade II listed terrace on Kensington Road facing Hyde Park.[1] It is incidentally part of the same Victorian development by Charles James Freake as the nearby Polish Hearth Club.[2] Although the institute is closer to the commercial centres of Kensington, it is just within the City of Westminster. In 1988 it merged with the formerly independent Polish Underground Movement (1939–1945) Study Trust – (Polish
: Studium Polski Podziemnej w Londynie).

Origins

Władysław Sikorski, prime minister of Poland

It was created immediately on the conclusion of the

People's Republic of Poland.[5]

Activities

The institute has conserved historical records, including witness records from the

military medals, uniforms, insignia, works of art, a library and many personal effects which had once belonged to Polish statesmen, diplomats, academics, military leaders and ordinary men and women. The institute's unrivalled film and photographic archive of over 5,000 photographs was digitised by Karta during 2005–6 and is available in Poland for exhibitions and educational initiatives.[6] Around 2006 the institute received a chance find of 2,000 photographs taken by photographer Jan Markiewicz of the early Polish community in 1950s South London, which a passer-by retrieved from a skip in Brixton.[7]

Study Trust of the Polish Underground State

Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski 4th prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile

Founded in 1948, by a group of veterans led by general Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski the Polish Underground Movement (1939–1945) Study Trust – Studium Polski Podziemnej w Londynie, known as the Studium, amalgamated with the institute in 1988. Although it lost its separate legal status, it was granted internal autonomy to carry out its own research and publications from its base in Ealing.[8]

Governance

The institute and Sikorski Museum is divided into the following departments and sections:

  • Archives
  • Museum, including the Photographic Archive, the Film Archive and the Sound Archive
  • Reference Library
  • Administration
  • Publications
  • Regimental Colours Fund

The institute is governed by a Council which elects the Executive Committee from among its members who run the day-to-day business of the institute. The chairman heads the Council and Executive Committee. Membership consists of honorary members (nominated by the AGM), full members chosen by the Council, life members by single donation and annual members.

Count Edward Raczynski Polish Ambassador to the Court of St James's 1932–1941

Since its inception the institute has had eight chairmen:

  • Prof.
    Stanisław Stroński
    PhD (1945–1951)
  • Lt. Gen. Prof. Marian Kukiel PhD (1951-c.1965)
  • Count Edward Raczyński PhD (c.1965–1976)
  • Stanisław Leśniowski MSc (1977–1979)
  • Capt.
    Ryszard Dembiński
    (1979–2004)
  • Krzysztof Barbarski CEng (2004–2022)
  • Krzysztof deBerg (2022 -2023 )
  • Danuta Bildzuik (2023 - )

See also

References

  1. ^ Historic England, "20 Prince's Gate (1265482)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 14 July 2016
  2. ^ 'Princes Gate and Princes Gardens: the Freake Estate, Development by C.J. Freake', in Survey of London: Volume 45, Knightsbridge, ed. John Greenacombe (London, 2000), pp. 191–205. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol45/pp191-205 [accessed 28 February 2020]. See plate 90.
  3. ISBN 0-7185-1211-1
  4. ISBN 978-0786455362
    .
  5. S2CID 163543066
    .
  6. PAP (2011). "Zdjęcia z Londynu w cyfrowym archiwum Karty"
    (in Polish). Retrieved 27 February 2020. Polish press agency report of the digitalisation of five thousand war-time photographs from the Institute's archive in London.
  7. ^ Time Out listing of a 2008 exhibition at the Institute of retrieved photographs from a skip in Brixton, accessed 27 February 2020. Archived 27 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Buliczowa, Kazimiera (1985). Studium Polski Podziemnej w Londynie: Informator 1947–1984 (in Polish). London: Studium Polski Podziemnej w Londynie. Digitized on 1 Dec 2006 by the University of Michigan

Bibliography

  • "Documents on Polish-Soviet Relations, 1939–1945", General Sikorski Historical Institute, London: Heinemann. 1967.
  • Milewski, Waclaw. Suchcitz, Andrzej. Gorczycki, Andrzej. (Eds.) "Guide to the Archives of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum". 1985
  • Suchcitz, Andrzej. O Instytucie Polskim i Muzeum im. gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie, Pamiętnik Literacki, tom XIII, Londyn 1988 – About the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, a
    Memoire
    (in Polish).
  • Suchcitz, Andrzej. Powstanie Instytutu Historycznego im gen. Sikorskiego, [w:] Idea Europy i Polska w XIX-XX wieku, Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Ossolineum, Wrocław 1999 – The creation of the Historical Sikorski Institute in "The Idea of Europe and Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries". Association of the Friends of the Ossolineum. (in Polish).
  • Orr, Aileen (2012). Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero. Edinburgh: Birlinn Publishers.
    ISBN 978-1-84341-057-7
    .

Gallery

  • A turret gun from a Polish 7TP light tank which was used against the invading Germans in September 1939. It was later employed by the Germans in France and recovered during the allied invasion of western Europe in 1944.
    A turret gun from a Polish 7TP light tank which was used against the invading Germans in September 1939. It was later employed by the Germans in France and recovered during the allied invasion of western Europe in 1944.
  • A memorial to the Polish pilots who fought in World War 2
    A memorial to the Polish pilots who fought in World War 2
  • An exhibit about the Polish contribution to the Battle of Britain
    An exhibit about the Polish contribution to the Battle of Britain
  • Remains of the 178th German plane shot down by the Polish 303 squadron during the Battle of Britain
    Remains of the 178th German plane shot down by the Polish
    303 squadron during the Battle of Britain
  • A memorial to the thousands of Polish men, women and children deported and starved to death on Russian soil during and after World War 2
    A memorial to the thousands of Polish men, women and children
    deported and starved to death on Russian soil during and after World War 2
  • A report commending the actions of the Polish destroyer Piorun ("Thunderbolt") prior to the sinking of the Bismarck
    A report commending the actions of the Polish destroyer Piorun ("Thunderbolt") prior to the sinking of the Bismarck
  • Original manuscripts by Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz
    Original manuscripts by Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz
  • Regimental colours
    Regimental colours
  • The Władysław Anders room
    The Władysław Anders room
  • A bust of Władysław Anders
    A bust of Władysław Anders
  • A souvenir from the Battle of Monte Cassino
    A souvenir from the Battle of Monte Cassino
  • A sculpture of Wojtek the soldier bear by David Harding
    A sculpture of Wojtek the soldier bear by David Harding
  • A plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising and Operation Tempest
    A plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising and Operation Tempest
  • A bust of Jan Sobieski
    A bust of Jan Sobieski
  • A Polish hussar helmet from the 17th century
    A Polish hussar helmet from the 17th century
  • The emblem of the 1st Polish Armoured Division
    The emblem of the
    1st Polish Armoured Division

51°30′5″N 0°10′24″W / 51.50139°N 0.17333°W / 51.50139; -0.17333

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