Selected records of the Polish Committee of National Liberation Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (Sygn. 185) : Wybrane materialy

Selected records of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), including: A list of the members of the PKWN, and others, who left Moscow for Chełm in 1944, reports of the PKWN delegates of the Department for Jewish Affairs regarding the security of the so-called liberated areas and the organization of Jewish communities, correspondence with the Central Jewish Committee, newsletters of the Jewish Press Agency, 1944, records of the Department of Justice discussing matters of the restitution of property to Jewish survivors, records on the war crime trials, articles written by staff of the Judiciary, letters from Jews living in the USSR searching for their families left in Poland, minutes of the sessions of meetings of the PKWN relating to Jews and the former concentration camp at Majdanek, registration of war damages and doctor's reports about persons suffering from chronic ailments caused by mistreatment during the German occupation, propaganda posters and leaflets, and correspondence relating to establishment of the National Museum in Majdanek, 1944. Copyright Holder: Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych The Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) was formed on July 21, 1944. The PKWN was established in Moscow and led by Polish communists who had been living there in exile, and it functioned under the political control of Joseph Stalin. The Central Office of Polish Communists and the National Council of the Polish Communist Party were influenced by the Communist Party, but the final decision on its creation, name, status and staffing was made by Stalin. From August 1, 1944, the headquarters of the Polish Committee of the Army was based in Lublin. The PKWN was chaired by Edward Osóbka-Morawski and became the Temporary Government of the Polish Republic on December 31, 1944. PKWN's press office was known as "Rzeczpospolita." The establishment of the PKWN created a political structure that, with only minor modifications, was retained until 1989. The political foundations were the monopoly of the Communist Party in the sphere of power and the subordination of Poland to the Soviet Union.