Unknown memories of a forgotten peasant activist

• Main Author: Dariusz Misiejuk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ośrodek "Pamięć i Przyszłość" - "Remembrance and Future" Centre 2011-10-01
• Series: Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej
• Subjects: polish peasants' party; władyslaw zaremba
• Online Access: https://wrhm.pl/wrhm/article/view/10/5

Władysław Zaremba was one of the leaders of the Polish Peasants’ Party in country and abroad, a member of the Polish government-in-exile during WW2, and a deputy to State National Council. However, he is almost completely forgotten nowadays. Historians were not aware of the fact that, while he was an expatriate in USA in 1965–1966, Władysław Zaremba wrote down his memoirs. The typescript was commandeered from Zaremba by the SB (the secret police) when he came back to the country in 1967 and was never returned to him. Establishing the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej) gave many researchers an access to the former SB files, among which were Władysław Zaremba’s accounts. The aim of the author of the article is to introduce the reader to information regarding Zaremba’s political and social activity. The author also gives a brief characteristics of the memoirs, by specifying when and how they came into being, and discusses their content through the style of the testimony. An analysis of the typescript brings a conclusion, that it is the key to the history of the Galician countryside, peasants’ movement and Poland’s political history, but even more so – to understanding Władysław Zaremba – a peasant, social activist and politician – himself.