Collection of Polish Veterans’ Solidarity Association
This month we focus on pennants to be found in the Polish Veterans’ Solidarity Association Collection. The pennants, as part of the Association’s documentation, have been in the holdings of the Archives of the Solidarity National Commission since 2014. Under Professor Jerzy Posorski’s guidance, the members of the Association organized and catalogued its documentation, and submitted them systematically to the archivists of the Archives of the Solidarity National Commission. Worth noting is their strong involvement in this task.
The aforementioned documentation contains, inter alia, the Association’s statutes, protocols, instructions, rules and regulations related to Veterans. A major part of the archival documentation is the correspondence, including military correspondence. The members donated periodicals issued by the Association and collected by them. The publications include “Polish Veterans’ Solidarity Bulletin”, “Wake-up. Polish Veterans’ Solidarity Bulletin”, “The Veteran. Bulletin of the Office For War Veterans and Victims of Oppression”.
The Archives of the Solidarity National Commission acquired also the members’ register, documentation of promotions and commemorative medals presented to the veterans, documents of Presidents and branch offices from the whole of Poland. Furthermore, the collection presents World War II events and stories of victims of oppression from December 1970. Included are archival documents, photographs (also those made for the chronicle of Priest Jerzy Popiełuszko), a handband and posters of the Polish Veterans’ Solidarity, VHS tapes and CDs with recordings of the Polish Veterans’ Solidarity meetings.
Pennants of the Polish Veterans’ Solidarity Association
Presented below is a set of 10 rectangular or triangular pennants, mostly 15 x 25 cm in size. They were most likely created to commemorate various anniversaries of events, as well as slogans and institutions. One of them is the pennant with the flag of the Polish Veterans’ Solidarity and the “GOD-HONOUR-HOMELAND” motto on one side and the image of the Holy Mother and the child Jesus and the “FREEDOM-ENTIRETY-INDEPENDENCE” on the other side.
Interestingly, the pennant presenting the image of the Monument of Killed Shipyard Workers in Gdansk in 1970 is accompanied by commemorative plastic badges of the I National Veterans’ Offices Congress in 1981. There are also pennants of: V Congress of Gdansk Circle of Camp Followers in 1993, “Solidarity” Works Committee of Turów Coal Mine, “Solidarity” of Rydułtowy Hard Coal Mine, ”ORGANIKA” Chemical Works in Żarów from 2002, Textile and Clothing Crafts Guild in Gdańsk from 1985 and the Polish Navy.
It is worth mentioning that the Archives of the Solidarity National Commission have distinguished a separate collection No 186 of the pennants from Poland and abroad, gathered by their archivists. The majority of these pennants are related to the “Solidarity” Union, but some of them also pertain to significant figures in Polish political and social life in the 1980s.
Visit us at the Archives of the National Commission of NSZZ „Solidarność”.
Those interested in our archival materials are kindly invited to make use of our holdings in our Reading Room. They are accessible from Monday to Friday between 9:00 and 15:30. Please let us know in advance about your planned visit either by phone +48 (58) 308-43-92 or at .
/Łukasz Grochowski, The Archives of the Solidarity National Commission,
Iwona Flis, Stanislaw Flis Foundation “Pomerania Archives”/
