Wojenny exodus archiwaliów warszawskich na Jasną Górę

In 1942 occupation authorities of the General Government took a decision on transfer of the archives outside the municipal buildings of the city of Warsaw. The most valuable records were deposited at the Sokolnicki’s Stronghold in Zoliborz district. Meanwhile, facing the impending offensive against the Soviet army, Dr. Hans Branig decided on deportation of the most valuable archives to the Pauline Monastery of Jasna Góra in Częstochowa. Responsible for preparing storage for them was Dr. Kazimierz Kaczmarczyk, former director of the State Archives in Poznań. List of archives that were transferred was drawn up on July 4th, 1944. Items were packed in 43 chests. Among them were The Crown Metric from The Central Archives of Historical Records and the oldest records from the Municipal Archives and Archives of Historical Records. Transportation could not take place due to threat of uprising in August 1944. This was only possible on November 25th–27th, 1944, when the Soviet offensive was already a fact. Then 59 packs of parchments (279 boxes), 84 packets with the cartographic acts and 117 boxes of the Crown Registers and the oldest land and municipal registers as well as records of guilds from the holdings of The Central Archives of Historical Records were with high probability transported via three cars. Archival materials were deposited in the confessors of the Church. Holder of the keys was Kaczmarczyk, who along with Stanislaw Stojanowski arranged records for the last days of German occupation and after the arrival of the Russians. The archives returned to Warsaw city probably in the late summer of 1946. Then records were deposited temporarily at one of Warsaw’s Palaces (Pod Blachą Palace).