Polish National Council Rada Narodowa (A.5)

Contains selected records of the National Council: the advisory body of the Polish government-in-exile, as established by the President of the Republic in the absence of the Polish Parliament. Included are minutes of sessions of the First and the Second National Councils, and of sessions of the Presidium of the National Council. The Chairman of National Council was Ignacy Paderewski, who was followed by Stanisław Grabski. Szmul Zygielbojm and Ignacy Schwarcbart were two representatives of the Polish Jews. The collection also includes the committees of the National Council of the sections: Occupied Poland, Foreign Affairs, Military Forces, Finance and Constitutional Matters; as well as drafts of government decrees, general correspondence of the Council, financial records of Council and governmental budgets, and personal files of the Council members and its staff. Copyright Holder: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego w Londynie Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie (Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile) was established after Germany and the Soviet Union occupied Poland in September 1939. The Polish government-in-exile was first based in Paris, but moved to London after the French army surrendered to the Germans in the mid-1940s. The Allied powers accepted the government-in-exile as the legitimate representative of the Polish people soon after it was created. The Polish government allied itself with the Allied powers, as its members believed that only a total military victory over Germany would restore Poland's independence and freedom. The government-in-exile led the Polish war effort throughout World War II, and amassed its own land, air, and naval forces. In addition, it commanded the largest underground army of the war, the Armia Krajowa (the Polish Home Army). In 1942, reports about the mass murder of Jews in Poland reached London. At that point, the Polish government-in-exile made several public declarations on the subject, and officially demanded that the Allied powers stop the Germans from continuing their campaign to murder Jews, and other individuals they deemed undesirable. From December 1942 onward, the government-in-exile backed the rescue work of Zegota, which offered aid to Jews throughout occupied Poland.