Warsaw Rising museum receives a precious collection of uprising identity cards

"This is one of the most valuable collections since the founding of the museum" - the director of the museum Jan Ołdakowski said. He reminded that the items for future collection have been gathered since the 1950s by the Museum of Warsaw. In recent decades the Warsaw Rising Museum has taken over the collection. "In total we had more than 300 such cards. And all of a sudden we've received a collection of nearly 400" - the director said.

The gift came as a surprise. In the autumn of 2020, a mysterious man showed up at the museum. "An older, grey-haired man, a real gentleman, left a yellow envelope with a pencil inscription that read "Leg." (abbreviation of the Polish word "legitymacja"). "We didn't expect it would be so valuable as it wasn't exactly the manner in which collection worth - as we estimate - up to 1 million zlotys should be submitted. The gentleman put it down and left" - Ołdakowski said.

He got it done swiftly, with spy-like discretion. "He didn't leave any information, it was impossible to identify him by his looks without methods unavailable to us. Before our historians found out what we were dealing with, the man was gone. Maybe he knew how to disappear unnoticed?" - the museum director wondered.

Museum experts began their work and it took them nearly a year to present the first effects of their efforts. The collection consists of 382 identity cards and 3 insurgent passes. They differ slightly in pattern. Most of them are pink and have vertical orientation, but there are also some white, grey, green and orange.

All contain rank, nom de guerre, name, often also surname, date of birth, and some have thumb prints. More details are mentioned on the back of the cards and it is a real treat for historians researching the 1944 rising.

"There are stamps and commanders' signatures, information about promotions and commendations along with order numbers. Some contain information about given person's right to carry firearms or detain suspects, annotations regarding passing cadet exams. We learn many interesting historical facts from of it, we can precisely trace back combat trails and verify various stories" - said dr Katarzyna Utracka, a historian from the Warsaw Rising Museum.

The research shows the majority of the IDs belonged to soldiers who fought from the outbreak until the end of the rising in Śródmieście district, members of "Chrobry II" and "Gurt" groups, from battalions "Zaremba-Piorun", "Bełt", "Gozdawa" and "Kiliński". Two documents were signed by Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki who was a group commander in the uprising. Nearly all documents contain printed numbers from POW camp 344 in Lamsdorf.

"The 385 documents are 385 life stories of Warsaw insurgents, who on October 4-5 in 1944 were taken from Śródmieście to Lamsdorf POW camp 344" - dr Utracka said.

Insurgents who were taken to internment camps had their IDs confiscated. The IDs were stamped with German serial numbers and sent over to camp archives. In its stead the insurgents were given tags with camp numbers which they hanged around their necks on pieces of rope" - Jan Ołdakowski explained and added that four such tags matched the identity cards.

It remains unknown what happened with the documents after the war until 2020. "In 1945 the camp was liberated by the Red Army, that's the last known location. If the Germans didn't evacuate this archive, most likely it was seized by one of the Russian secret services. After the war, the collection could have been used to identify participants of the Warsaw Uprising, to keep Home Army members under surveillance, as at the time it was already treated as enemy organisation. It was valuable as it contained mostly real names and surnames" - Jan Ołdakowski explained.

How was it possible that, in the Polish Underground State, soldiers operating in deep conspiracy could have original papers? "On August 1, a free Polish state was created, a free republic, although without a number. It was assumed that a new free Poland, although in a very limited shape, would emerge there. Therefore, its citizens should have the right to come forward and use real identities. It was based on a belief that the uprising would end in victory and become a beginning of a free state, hence the people didn't have to use conspiracy names" - he added.

The museologists say the crucial thing is that the collection was not sold or thrown away. Thanks to it many insurgent biographies could be retraced. However, 23 identity cards remain unsolved. "We've decided to make this collection public in hopes to restore those people names and surnames" - Utracka said.

The museologists also checked if any ID owners were alive. They found one person.

"It's Ireneusz Rudnicki, nom de guerre "Emir", soldier of the "Kiliński" battalion. It turned out he didn't return to Poland after being imprisoned in Germany. He emigrated to the United Kingdom, and later to the United States. There, he finished college. He became an engineer, a scientist, and was granted a number of patents" - Katarzyna Utracka said.

A scan of the document was sent to the insurgent. "He was very happy it survived. He confirmed it belonged to him, the POW number was correct. The man is nearly 100 years old, he was very touched" - the historian said.

Rudnicki's wife also took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Utracka said the lady has kept her ID up to this day.

All documents have been added to "Powstańcze legitymacje" (Insurgent IDs) collection. Visitors can see them in the Liberator Hall after buying regular entry tickets.