POLISH CENTRAL MUSEUM REPOSITORY FOR GDAŃSK VOIVODESHIP. PART 1. GENESIS

The article – following previous ones of similartopic published in “Museology” – is the 1st part of a broaderelaboration pertaining to relocations of cultural goods afterWorld War II, in particular to functioning of repositorieswhere those goods were assembled. They were establishedand operated by Polish administration on the territoriesliberated consecutively by the moving front. This time therepositories in Gdańsk Pomerania region are discussed. Firstpart presents issues related to a geopolitical situation ofGdańsk Voivodeship, especially the city of Gdańsk. Historicalbackground is given to the so-called recovery campaignconducted by Polish administration. The process of gettingorganised by Polish authorities is also described, as wellas the way it affected the achievement of their objectives:organisation of social life, rescue of artworks – despite theshortage of means – by penetrating areas outside the cityin search for hidden goods, establishment of repositories,depositories etc. for items of cultural heritage saved fromthe fire, left behind the moving front and the Red Army, andfor those taken out of towns by the German monuments’protection service. Sites of Gdańsk Voivodeship where themonuments were deposited by German administration arelisted in the article. Collections of movable goods assembledin those caches survived military actions and – if notplundered by local people or Soviet Army commanders –were being saved and secured in repositories organised bydelegates of the Ministry of Culture and Art. The way in whichthe Polish repositories were established and operating, aswell as the fortunes of historic artefacts collected in them willbe further described in the following 2nd part of the article.