40 lat działalności Kongresu Polonii Francuskiej 1949-1989

This article presents the 40 year history of the activity of the Congress of French Polonia (KPF) on the basis of acts and archives of the Congress as well as materials collected by the author. The time of the Congress activity was divided into four parts: 1949-1956 - the struggle for existence, the yearning toward an independent existence, 1957-66 - the upholding of the illusion, 1967-1979 - missed opportunities, 1979-1989 - a charge of directions. In the detailed analysis of each of these period there were presented, among other things: the structural and personal changes in the membership of the Congress, as well as its status with regard to the Comission on Education for Polish Emigration and the Polish Catholic Union. The author voises the opinion that the structure and activity of the Congress as well as The unions uncorparated in them envelop the Entirety of the Polonia community in the French environment. The KPF in 1979 was reformed as the Congress of Polonia in France enabling greater possibilities for the true functioning of the organization.