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

The article – following previous ones of similar topic published in “Museology” – is the 1st part of a broader elaboration pertaining to relocations of cultural goods after World War II, in particular to functioning of repositories where those goods were assembled. They were established and operated by Polish administration on the territories liberated consecutively by the moving front. This time the repositories in Gdańsk Pomerania region are discussed. First part presents issues related to a geopolitical situation of Gdańsk Voivodeship, especially the city of Gdańsk. Historical background is given to the so-called recovery campaign conducted by Polish administration. The process of getting organised by Polish authorities is also described, as well as the way it affected the achievement of their objectives: organisation of social life, rescue of artworks – despite the shortage of means – by penetrating areas outside the city in search for hidden goods, establishment of repositories, depositories etc. for items of cultural heritage saved from the fire, left behind the moving front and the Red Army, and for those taken out of towns by the German monuments’ protection service. Sites of Gdańsk Voivodeship where the monuments were deposited by German administration are listed in the article. Collections of movable goods assembled in those caches survived military actions and – if not plundered by local people or Soviet Army commanders – were being saved and secured in repositories organised by delegates of the Ministry of Culture and Art. The way in which the Polish repositories were established and operating, as well as the fortunes of historic artefacts collected in them will be further described in the following 2nd part of the article.