Polish Embassy in Moscow and Kuybyshev (USSR) Ambasada Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej w Moskwie i Kujbyszewie (ZSRR) (A.7)

Copyright Holder: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie Contains selected records of the Polish Embassy of the Polish government-in-exile. The collection comprises records of activities of the Embassy of the Polish Republic in Moscow (and Kuybyshev after November 1941) from September 1941 through May 1943. The majority of files date from the tenure of Ambassador Stanisław Kot (1 Sept 1941- 13 Jun 1942), and the rest from the tenure of Dr. Tadeusz Romer (12 Oct 1942 - 5 May 1943). Documents include coded telegrams, reports and dispatches, instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the ambassadors, documents of the representatives of the Polish Embassy in various parts of the USSR, personnel files of the Embassy’s delegates, statistical data and reports of the Embassy concerning welfare aid to the civilian population, particularly to the families of servicemen. Additionally, selected records of relations between Soviet authorities and particular nationalities, regional populations of Polish citizens the USSR, populations of Polish children and orphans in the USSR, activities of the care institutions of the Embassy, help and care over the Jews in USSR for the period of 1941-1943 are included. 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.