POLISH AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION MEMOIRS PROJECT
Polish Migrant Memoirs and Letters: Documenting the World War II Diaspora
With the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, the Polish nation faced an overwhelming experience of displacement and dislocation. As a consequence, close to six million Poles found themselves outside Poland's new borders; at the end of the war, nearly 500,000 Poles remained in exile, scattered over many countries on all continents. About 140,000 Polish immigrants -- political exiles, civilian refugees, displaced persons, former soldiers, slave laborers, and prisoners of concentration camps -- settled permanently in the United States.
With this war generation passing, it becomes ever more urgent to tell their story, to preserve the record of their experience and make it available to the next generations. The Polish American Historical Association (PAHA) is a professional organization international in scope and in existence since 1943, whose goal is scholarly research and promotion of the study of the history and culture of the Polish American diaspora.
PAHA is alarmed by the disappearance of documentation on the history of the World War II and immediate postwar wave of Polish migration to the United States. Recognizing the contributions of Polish migrants to Polish American as well as American history, PAHA appeals to the members of the exile generation, their families, and their organizations to deposit their existing records in archival and research institutions.
To facilitate the preservation effort, the Polish American Historical Association is inaugurating a new project titled “Polish Migrant Memoirs and Letters: Documenting the World War II Diaspora.” In collaboration with the Central Connecticut State University’s Library (Polish Heritage Collection) and Stanislaus A. Blejwas Chair in Polish and Polish American History, the Polish American Librarians’ Association, PAHA is announcing search in the United States for the following documents among members of the WWII Diaspora in North America: memoirs (published and unpublished); diaries; letters; interviews and photos. The war and immediate post-war period is the main focus of the search, however, we are interested in the entire life of these migrants, not just the war years.
Central Connecticut State University
Elihu Burritt Library
Attention: Ewa Wolynska, Head, Special Collections
PAHA Memoirs Project
1615 Stanley St.
New Britain, CT 06050
If you are interested in donating to this project and are seeking more information please contact:
Dr. Ewa Barczyk (ewa@uwm.edu 414-412-6456).
You can find the Deed on Gift on our website:
https://polishamericanstudies.org/text/180/memoirs-.html
