The Wilno Branch of the Polish Historical Society

The Wilno branch of the Polish Historical Society was active from 1925 to 1939. Its purpose was to support the development of historical studies and establish a community of historians and history lovers. The number of members during its existence varied from 26 to 54. At the head of the society operated a board of directors that was elected at the annual meeting of members. Professor Alfons Parczewski was the branch’s Chairman from 1925 to 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 Professor Stefan Ehrenkreutz presided over the board. At the society’s meetings, members would present papers on various historical topics; they would publish works in local Wilno scholarly publications, and they would cooperate with historians from other scholarly centers around Poland. An important event for the Wilno branch of the Polish Historical Society, as well as for the entire Wilno scholarly community, was the VI General Congress of Polish Historians, convened in Wilno on September 17–20, 1935. Some 618 individuals participated in the event. More than 50 scholarly papers were presented, a wide series of important issues were discussed, and various resolutions were passed. The activities of the Wilno branch of the Polish Historical Society were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.

Confirmation of the last will of Vilnius goldsmith Vincent Slegel (1519). A contribution to the history of the Vilnius bourgeois elite and its ties with Poznań

In the following paper the author attemps to analyse the confirmation of the testament of the Vilnian burger – craftsman, goldsmith and town councillor – Vincenty Slegel, written in the 1519.

Jadwiga Janina Cywińska, nee Malkiewicz. One of the Vilnius Six

The first published biography of one of the members of the first community of the Order of Mercy, founded by Fr. Michał Sopoćko according to the revelations received through the intercession of Sister Faustyna Kowalska; court clerk in Vilnius and Toruń.

Following the end of second World War, 48 percent area of the Second Polish Republic was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. A significant number of Polish citizens remained in the annexed areas and along with them their pastors. As for members of the Society of St. Francis de Sales (Salesians), ten remained in the areas incorporated into the USSR, who helped organize the religious life of the faithful under very difficult circumstances. They maintained contact with the religious congregation in Poland, mostly it was limited to correspondence and short visits on the occasion of family visits to Poland. The source presents notes from the stay in the USSR of Fr. Stanisław Rokita SDB, who in 1973 was the first Salesian superior to visit his congregation remaining in the East.