“We want these documents to live, so that scientific publications can be created based on them”

The AAN director said that the documents transferred to the AAN collection are another great resource documenting the history of the Polish Underground State and the Warsaw Uprising, which have been included in the archive collections in recent years. Among them, he mentioned the collections of Antoni Sanojca, deputy commander of the “Północ” Group in the Warsaw Uprising, officer of the Home Army Headquarters Jan Rzepecki and commander of the “Zośka” battalion Ryszard Białous. He added that on the occasion of Friday's ceremony, the last defender of the Polish Security Printing Works redoubt Juliusz Kulesza handed over to him a folder with documents of the “Żyrafa” group of the Żoliborz District of the Home Army. The AAN director announced their presentation after they have been processed by archivists.

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His son Maciej Janaszek spoke about Wacław Janaszek “Bolek” (1903-1944). He emphasized that his father devoted his entire life to military service. As a volunteer, he fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war in 1920. “In 1925, he graduated from the Military Academy of Engineering with the first place, for which he received the golden sabre of the President of the Republic of Poland. This was a significant distinction, because in all military schools it was awarded to 133 officers. In the defensive war of 1939, he fought in the ranks of the Pomerania Army, and then in the defense of Warsaw. – Almost immediately after the capitulation of Warsaw, he joined the underground fight in the ranks of the Polish Armed Organization, which was initially stronger than the ZWZ,” emphasized Wacław Janaszek's son. He added that his father headed the POZ in Warsaw, and three Home Army battalions came from the structures he built – “Chrobry”, “Kiliński” and “Łukasiński”. In 1942, he became the Chief of Staff of the Directorate of Diversion of the Home Army Headquarters.

SEE: Seeing the Uprising in Color. 100 Photos of Fighting Warsaw.

During the Warsaw Uprising, he became the Chief of Staff of the Home Army Group “Radosław”. He was also the acting commander during the convalescence of Lieutenant Colonel Jan Mazurkiewicz “Radosław”. – He went through heavy fighting from Wola to the Old Town and was promoted to the rank of colonel there. On August 25, a heavy German shell hit the building on the Koźle building where the headquarters was located. My father was seriously wounded – said the son of a Home Army officer. He was transferred through the sewers to Nowy Świat, and then to the insurgent hospital at 8 Drewniana Street in Powiśle. On September 27, 1944, the hospital was occupied by the SS, who murdered all the insurgents remaining there, including Wacław Janaszek.

Maciej Janaszek explained that the documents transferred to the AAN were located in his father's last conspiratorial apartment at Stalowa 47 in Warsaw's Praga district. The tenement house survived the fights for the district, and after the war the documents remained in a special hiding place, despite the searches by the communist secret service. – Many years later, my mother gave me these documents and I added them to my father's other documents concerning his pre-war service. In my opinion, they are an interesting contribution to the functioning of the conspiratorial organization, mainly from 1942 – said Janaszek.

Among the documents transferred are, among others, reports on the activities of the Polish Military Organization, the period of its integration with the ZWZ/AK, and orders regarding liquidation actions of officers of the German terror machine. They contain, among others, “Bolek” notes on documents regarding the “Kutschera” action.

The ceremony of handing over the archives took place on Friday in the Hall of Tradition of the Military Ordinariate named after Archbishop Maj. Gen. Józef Feliks Gawlina, next to the Military Cathedral of the Polish Army in Warsaw. The handover of the documents was accompanied by a concert of songs of the insurgents by artists of the Representative Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army and the opening of an exhibition of documents concerning the attempt of breakthrough of the insurgent units from the Old Town to the City Center on August 30/31, 1944.

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During the ceremony, director Mariusz Olczak said that some of the documents presented were “created in this place – at Długa Street, including reports created in the tower of the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army”.

80 years ago, on August 30, 1944, with the consent of the commander of the Warsaw District of the Home Army, Colonel Antoni Chruściel “Monter”, the command of the defense of the Old Town besieged by the Germans ordered the evacuation of the crew to the city center. The director of the AAN emphasized that presenting the archival collections is in line with the principle adopted by the state archives that “archives cannot be associated with a warehouse”. – We want these documents to live, so that scientific publications can be created on their basis. Research on the Home Army is certainly not over yet – emphasized the director of the AAN.

The route of the Radosław Group led from Wola through Stawki, Muranów, Stare Miasto, Śródmieście, Czerniaków and Mokotów. While leaving Wola, its commander Jan Mazurkiewicz “Radosław” was severely wounded several times. Then he commanded during the attempt of the “Północ” Group to break through to Śródmieście and the defense of Czerniaków. On September 20, Mazurkiewicz ordered his decimated units to leave Czerniaków and go through the sewers to Mokotów. After a week – at the head of 120 soldiers – he made it to Śródmieście by the same route, where his soldiers fought until the capitulation of the uprising.