LEVEL - CULTURAL SURVEILLANCE
The function of prof. Mieczysław Gęmbarowicz
in rescuing Polish cultural goods in Lviv
The technological achievements of Prof. Mieczysław Gębarowicz and his large merits located in the work of documenting and technological improvement of Polish monuments of art and culture in Lviv and in the erstwhile south-eastern lands of the Republic are rather well known. Art historians could talk here. I, on the another hand, would like to present a very crucial part of the Professor's biogram. It concerns the period of planet War II and the first years after the war, erstwhile Prof. Gębarowicz, giving up his technological ambitions and further career, devoted himself completely to saving Polish cultural collections gathered in Lviv. This activity was inextricably connected with the Ossoliński National Plant, which was headed by the appointment of the curator first in July 1941 as manager, and since April 1943 as director. This position, carried out in a conspiracy, in secret from the occupiers - let us remind that the Plant was liquidated in 1940 by the russian authorities - combined between 1941 and 1946 with the authoritative position of the manager of the Ossolineum Library, incorporated in the business years first into the structures of the German Staatsbibliothek Lemberg, and since August 1944 as the alleged Polish Sector to the Lviv Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USRR. Among the Lviv technological and cultural institutions, the Ossoliński National Institute (until 1939- connecting Library, Publishing home and Lubomirski Museum) was 1 of the most crucial and most well-deserved centres of Polish culture, which was decided primarily by the highly rich library collections, second in terms of value in the country after the Jagiellonian Library.
During the German occupation, led by Prof. Gębarowicz Ossolineum, it became a place of refuge for various types of Polish collections, exposed to demolition or scattering in war conditions. Prof. Gębarowicz had already undertaken specified a run in 1941, accepting in the form of deposits collections of many Polish scholars, threatened by arrest or forced to leave Lviv. The Ossolineum was then sheltered, among others, by the books of professors of the University of Lviv: the philologist Jerzy Manteuffl, physicist Stanisław Loria, historian Fr Józef Umiński, philosopher Kazimierz Twardowski, as well as the well-known surgeon Adam Grucy. The top achievement, however, was the saving of seminar libraries in February 1943 of respective university facilities (Polish, Roman and classical philology, history, law and philosophy), which M. Gębarowicz agreed to accept to Ossolineum immediately after the evacuation of the university's building was issued by the German authorities and occupied by German air troops. Despite unfavourable weather conditions and deficiency of means of transport, the employees of Ossolineum transferred about 100,000 books to the Library building over respective days.
Another, though at the same time as it later turned out to be a half success of M. Gębarowicz was saved from the demolition not distributed before 1939 by the Ossolineum Publishing home (they were school textbooks, technological works and works from beautiful literature), the amount of which was estimated to be about 2-3 freight wagons. In 1942, the Ukrainian trading company Knyhotorh, planning to transfer them depending on the decision of the German censorship for sale or for sale, made a claim to those books in the erstwhile Ossoliński magazines at Kalecznia Street. Mr Gębarowicz, however, did not let these books to be published to the Ukrainians and caused them to be transferred to the Ossolineum.
The concern for the destiny of Polish cultural goods in Lviv forced prof. Gębarowicz to look for different ways to defend them. Due to the closeness of the front line to the Polish lands and the ever-increasing possible of taking on Lviv's war effort, and consequently the russian occupation, M. Gębarowicz, in close agreement with the manager of the Jagiellonian Library, Dr. Edward Kuntze, made an initiative in autumn 1943 to evacuate the most valuable part of the Ossolinski collections from the threatened Lviv to Krakow. It was surely not easy for him to make a final decision on this matter, but the improvement of wartime events has determined the matter. In early 1944, the German authorities ordered the evacuation of Lviv library collections - in addition to the Ossolineum besides university and polytechnical libraries and the Shevchenko Society - which Prof. Gębarowicz utilized to implement his plans. He prepared 2 evacuation transports with the participation of a fewer employees of the Library, in spite of clear German instructions, ordering the evacuation of German specialist literature and handbooks of main reading rooms - the most valuable and carefully selected peculiar collections and cymelia Ossolineum. It was about 2,300 manuscripts, about 2,200 papers (diplomas), about 1,700 old prints, about 2,400 engravings and drawings from the erstwhile collections of the Lubomir Museum and the Pawlikowski collections, and respective 100 numisate pieces. In addition, there were about 170 most valuable manuscripts of another foundational Polish library - the Baworowski Library, and the most valuable manuscripts and incunabularies of the University Library in Lviv.
In order to illustrate the values evacuated then from the Lviv Ossoliński collections, it can be shown that almost all the oldest Ossolińskie medieval codes from the 12th century, materials for the past of Poland from 16th to 16th centuries, including historical miscellanea, seymes diaries, abroad messages, collections of first papers and letters of Polish and abroad kings, collections of crown and Lithuanian rights and privileges, court files, property and characteristics of cities (including Biecz, Grodziska, Kościerzyna, Stanisławowa, Lviv), archives of Polish magnate families of Mennichy, Rzeczycki, Wodzicki and Fredrów, as well as works and papers of the most prominent Polish writers and poets of the old Polish era: Łukasz Opaliński, Wacław Potocki (including the autograph of the Okcim War), Jan Andrzej Morsztyn and Ignac Krasicki,
Among the evacuated literary materials of the 19th and 20th centuries were the autograph of Tadeusz Adam Mickiewicz, the full manuscripts of Juliusz Słowacki (with the autographs of Mazepa, Lilla Weneda, King of the Spirit) and Alexander Fredra (with the autographs of Mr.Jowialski, Pannic Vows, Revenge and Dovowiec), and the autographs of the works of Seweryn Goszczyński, Teofil Lenartowicz, Józef Conrad Korzenowski, Henryk Sienkiewicz (including the autograph of the Flood), Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Jan Kasprowicz, Władysław Reymont (including the autograph of the Boys), Stefan Żeromski.
In addition, the legacy of Lviv scholars: Wojciech Kętrzyński, Ludwik Bernacki, Oswald Balzer, Karol Szajnocha and archive of Galician activists of the folk movement Bolesław and Maria Wysłouchów were evacuated. As far as papers are concerned, the oldest and most valuable copies were selected for evacuation, starting with the papers of Pope Gregory IX of 1227 and Rev. Śląski Henryk Brodat of 1229.
The evacuated collections of Ossolineum arrived in March and April 1944 to Krakow, where the period of war was to wait out in the safe cellars of the Jagiellonian Library. However, these collections were unexpectedly exported by the Germans in the summertime of 1944 further westward and stored in the village of Adelin (now Zagrodno) close Złotorya, Lower Silesia. Fortunately they survived the war there, and in 1947 they made the Ossolineum Library revived in Wrocław. The collection of graphics then exported to Krakow mostly included Polish graphics. Prof. Gębarowicz most likely did not want to hand over to the Germans the most valuable monuments of Western European art, fearing that they would not share the destiny of Albrecht Durer's drawings confiscated by them in Ossolineum in 1941. On the another hand, it is likely that at that time, he decided beyond the cognition of the German authorities to expedition from Lviv to Krakow through private drawings of abroad masters from the collections of the Lubomir Museum, including in peculiar the collection of Rembrandt drawings. At the end of March 1944, he most likely entrusted it to Lviv's conservationist Jan Marksen, who, in turn, lodged it as a deposit at the National Museum in Krakow with manager Felix Kopera in mid-April of that year. At the same time prof. Gębarowicz, together with Lviv museumists, took part in the expedition from Lviv of 3 large paintings of Jan Matejko, i.e. owned before the war by the Lubomirski Museum "Lubelska Union" and most likely "Rejtan" and "Batory pod Pskow". The second 2 paintings were in Lviv in 1943 after being transported from Lutsk, and as evidenced in M. Gębarowicza fragmentary photographic documentation, the first safety work was carried out and their war past was recorded in Ossolineum.
It is worth noting that akin evacuation efforts were besides undertaken by the Lviv archives. Then, in February 1944, the most valuable archives were evacuated from the State Archives to Tyniec close Krakow, including a set of Grodzki and Earth Przemysl books. Immediately after the business of Krakow in January 1945, these books were taken by the Russians and transported back to Lviv, where they are now.
In view of the ever-increasing possible of the Russians taking over Lviv in the summertime of 1944, that Lviv would find itself after the war outside the borders of the Polish state, Mr Gębarowicz's attention then began to address the problem of the further destiny of the Ossoliński National Plant. There are indications that he made his first efforts to save these collections for Poland in late 1944. In any case, the fact that at least since the beginning of 1945 he advocated the relocation of the Plant from Lviv, as a future location of its location, is undisputed, proposing Kraków. At that time he became 1 of the hottest and most active spokespersons of rewinding the full Ossoliński collections by Poland without exception, and at the same time a hot opponent represented by the Ukrainian side plans to divide the collections and transmit only their tiny part as a "gift" from the Ukrainian people. Prof. Gębarowicz considered Ossolineum a Polish national institution. As a work of the full nation for respective generations created and maintained" and considered it unacceptable to leave it entirely or partially outside Poland. His activity in 1945-1946 to save Polish culture and discipline of Ossoliński collections was indeed impressive, given the conditions in which he came to operate, and limited, increasingly shrinking possibilities.
First of all, due to the settled destiny of Ossolineum, he did not decide to leave Lviv. Remaining on the ground, he had the chance to straight watch over the affairs of the institutions, to observe the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, and to make concrete attempts to save the harvest.
One of the most crucial directions of his activity was to constantly inform the applicable authorities and communities in the country about the state of Ossoliński cases, as well as to constantly remind about the request for full rewinding of collections. This was primarily to be served by many memorias and accounts written by him, as well as a individual gathering with prof. Stanisław Grabski, who was present in Lviv in September 1945, with an authoritative visit to the National National Council. He besides participated in the work of the Polish technological and cultural community in Lviv and in August 1945 was elected president of the Association of Polish Patriots in the Lviv Committee of Experts for the Acquisition of the Polish Cultural Good, which was to collect data on Polish cultural goods in the city.
In the then prepared - in August 1945 - by M. Gębarowicza memoriale among the cultural goods to be returned to Poland was mentioned mainly the full collection of 2 Polish foundation libraries, i.e. Ossolineum and Baworowskie, Polonica from the collections of university and pedagogical libraries, Lviv city collections, archive files on Polish lands, archives and private collections and church monuments. This memorial, which is the fullest and most competent characteristic of Polish cultural goods in Lviv, was presented to the Vice-President of the KRN Prof. Grabski and delivered to Polish institutions dealing with rewinding matters (Department of Rewinds and Compensation of the Ministry of Culture and Art, Polish Academy of Skills).
M. Gębarowicz was definitely an author, at least co-author of another accrual directed to Polish state authorities in the first half of 1946. This memorial demanded that authoritative discussions with the USSR on the rewinding of cultural goods be held without delay, and the resolution of the full case was seen only in the conclusion of an appropriate agreement, "guaranteeing the Republic a complete return of its legitimate cultural property from the east areas, which for so many centuries remained in inseparable communication with Matrix". As argued, "these cultural treasures are not allowed to be regarded as the war prey of the russian Union. For we are an allied state, not a defeated enemy, which can be alleviated from its cultural goods, accumulated by the tedious efforts of many generations."
Unfortunately, contrary to the hopes of Prof. Gębarowicz, the Polish state authorities have not made any more active efforts to rewind Polish cultural goods, nor have there been authoritative talks with the USSR or Ukraine on this subject. In this case, the most active technological communities focused on the Polish Academy of Skills in Krakow, performing with their own accruals to the government and president Bierut. It is worth recalling the names of those scientists who supported the activities of Prof. Gębarowicz in the country. They were erstwhile professors of the University of Jan Kazimierz: Franciszek Bujak, Stanisław Łempicki, Stefan Inglot and the closest friend of M. Gębarowicz, Dr Tadeusz Mańkowski.
M. Gębarowicz was not limited to propaganda and information activities only, but according to the rule adopted by him that, if it is possible to extract anything from here [i.e. from Lviv], it should be used", he took together with another trusted employees of the Lviv Ossolineum rescue action for the Polish Ossolinian harvest. This is the least known, individual hazard side of his business. From the fragmentary documentation preserved in his papers, as well as private correspondence and archival files of the Ossolineum it can be concluded that from 1945 to 1946 he managed to secretly transfer to Krakow libraries and museums outside the cognition of the russian authorities, through individuals and institutions leaving Lviv, a number of mostly uninvented collections of Ossolineum. The most crucial and documented function was played here by oo. Dominicans of Lviv, who relocated from Lviv in their transports to Krakow, transported a large organization of uninvented manuscripts and old Ossolineum prints. It was most likely any part of the collection which was hidden by Ossolineum in the spring of 1944 in the basements of the Dominican monastery in fear of bombings was not later taken from there and could be expeditioned from Lviv without major obstacles. It is worth mentioning from the more valuable manuscripts then exported to Krakow the autographs of the works of Józef Maximilian Ossoliński, the legacy of the manuscript of the president Lvov Tadeusz Rutowski, the household archives of Prusiewiczów, Massalski and Pruszyński, the collection of autographs of prominent Poles, Armenian manuscripts and correspondence of Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz, manuscripts from the collection of the bookkeeper and historian of Kraków Ambrożego Grabowski, the files and lists of Polish legionaries from the years of the First planet War, and deposits deposited in the Ossolineum in the years of the war (the archive of the bishop of Lviv Bilczewski and the priests of the resurrected and archive of the Lviv National Army). The old prints consisted mainly of collections of the Poturist Children's Library and smaller collections.
Many details of these covered by the clear secret of action will most likely never be explained again. With specified extended action, losses were inevitable. Not all shipments arrived at their destination, many of the harvests were lost, and those remaining in Lviv M. Gębarowicz had no way of controlling further fates passed in full discretion of collections. In total, however, from 1945 to 1946, thanks to the initiatives and efforts of M. Gębarowicz and another employees of the Lviv Ossolineum were transferred to Krakow a crucial number of Lviv collections, which were gradually taken over by the Wrocław Ossolineum from 1948 to 1957.
On the another hand, M. Gębarowicz failed to lead to the removal of Ossolineum releases not distributed before 1939 from Lviv. Attempts to influence the authorities of the Academy of Sciences of the USRR, the interest in this issue of the Union of Polish Patriots, as well as the urge of the Polish Ministry of Education to intervene did not result, so these books, whose value for Polish culture and discipline after war demolition has increased many times, did not scope the Polish reader and remained completely useless stored in Lviv.
The activity presented by M. Gębarowicz was all the more important, as the possibilities of its impact on the Ukrainian policy of separating part of Ossolineum collections as the alleged "gift" for Poland were rather limited from the very beginning. The final decision to choose the printing and manuscripts to hand over to Poland was to stay in the hands of the Ukrainian commission, in which the manager of Ossolineum was lacking. Thus, erstwhile in September 1945 the work about preparing a "gift" for Poland started in full steam, M. Gębarowicz - as an "element uncertain and unwanted" - was completely removed from any influence on making fundamental decisions, while the overseeing preparation of the "gift" of the Ukrainian commission spared him many harassments and sorrows.
The above comments will possibly become more understandable erstwhile we approximate the reality of the division of Lviv's collections made between 1946 and 1947 by Ukrainians. The general rule adopted by them was that all materials originating or relating to the lands lying east of Curzon's line, and in peculiar materials related (in the word of the Ukrainian commission) to the past and culture of western Ukraine, as well as in any way related to Russia, Belarus, Podol, Volyn, Lithuania, Turkey, etc., were to stay in Lviv. This rule was respected even in relation to materials in which there was even 1 mention concerning Western Ukraine. It was known that the large fascous containing Wielkopolska and Silesian materials could not be returned to Poland, as it contained only 1 card dedicated to Jaczwi. This was besides actual of any abroad material not related in the opinion of the Ukrainian Commission with Poland.
What was the division in practice? From the Ossolineum Library Ukrainians originally planned to hand over only 30,000 volumes of books. This number was increased respective times to yet scope 150 000 old prints, 19th and 20th century prints and manuscripts in May 1946, which represented only about 15-20% of the full collections, with no graphic, cartographic or practically full collection of Polish magazines from the 19th and Xth centuries. Polish staff performed only method work, while the decision, management and control was entrusted to Ukrainians. The places where the packing took place were closed and the Polish staff did not have access to them, and all work was in a immense hurry. During the division of collections, reasonably first criteria were applied. Among another things, the act of abdication of King Stanislaus Augustus was challenged due to the fact that it occurred in Grodno, Leszneński's prints Jan Amos Komenski as bohemica, all prints concerning dissidents, materials concerning the bar confederation, diplomatic correspondence concerning the partitions of Poland.
The situation in Lviv museums was similar. In the Historical Museum, Polish personnel were completely removed, and most of the originally selected exhibits were challenged by the Ukrainian commission. Thus, for example, from the first list of images, which included 1,000 items, only 105 remained, of which only a tiny percent were more valuable. In the Gallery of Paintings, the majority of selected to send images by Polish employees were challenged by the Ukrainian committee. Among another things, it was recommended to turn off all alleged dead natures, portraits of children, paintings depicting animals, scenes and views from the East, France, etc., painted by Polish artists, and images addressing more general topics, specified as Grottger's "War" cycle, which motivates all these works to have "international value". Mieczysław Gębarowicz - Lviv- 1983. photograph Piotr Szczepański It was besides argued that portraits of Polish personalities painted by abroad artists have no connection with Polish culture, that all portraits of women, painted even by Polish artists, have no importance for the Polish people. It was opposed to sending to Poland a sketch of Jan Stanisławski presenting the view of Zakopane, due to the fact that in this village he erstwhile played "our large Lenin", and a image of Jan Matejka's children, due to the fact that it was considered to be besides good a image for a gift. In addition, all the more valuable exhibits (e.g. Chopin Xawery Dunikowski's bust, Boznański's portraits, Wyspiański's drawings, Jacek Malczewski's paintings and Juliusz Kossak's paintings) were removed, motivating that in Poland there are many works of these artists, in Lviv the natomast must be decently represented by the art of "the closest neighbour of Ukraine". On the same basis, Korean porcelain, etc., as Ukrainian, słucki belts as Belarusian, Gdańsk furniture as German, fell off at the Museum of Artistic Industry.
Deprived of authoritative support from the Polish authorities and increasingly restricted in his competence Prof. Gębarowicz was a powerless witness to Ukrainian actions. Just as in the years of the first russian business 1940-1941, he was now observing the rustling and appropriation of Polish national collections. Especially the division of the Ossoliński collections, made arbitrarily by Ukrainians without reckoning with the opinion and rationale of the Polish side, was not only a defeat of his over 2 years of efforts to save this national substance for Poland, but besides a individual tragedy of the last Lviv manager of this institution.
While remaining at his post in Lviv, M.Gębarowicz did everything he could to save the goods of Polish culture. And he did a lot. He owes the most to the Wrocław Ossolineum. Unfortunately, the issue of rescuing Polish cultural goods in Lviv is inactive a proverbial "white stain". For many years it was impossible to compose about it officially, now most participants and witnesses are dead. besides prof. Gębarowicz never received designation for his merits. Therefore, recalling these facts on the centenary of his birthday is any form of tribute to this prominent Polish humanist and large patriot.
Alexander Szumański
