The “Red Army Soldiers and Internees in Prisoner of War and Internment Camps in Poland (1918-1924)” project was undertaken as a result of decisions made by Prof. Władysław Stępniak, General Director of the State Archives, and Dr. hab. Andrei N. Artizov, Chief of the Russian Federal Archives Agency, during the meeting of Polish and Russian delegations in May 2013.
The aim of the project is to provide online information about the soldiers of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the Russian internees kept in prisoner of war and internment camps from the end of World War I to the liquidation of the camps and the repatriation of the last prisoners of war and the internees to Russia in 1924.
The project is implemented by the Head Office of the State Archives, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the Central Military Archives. The project is led by the Scientific Council, working under the guidance of Prof. Władysław Stępniak, General Director of the State Archives, composed of: Prof. Zbigniew Karpus (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń), chiAeF@rjra3itw%uq5hef scientist of the project; Prof. Waldemar Rezmer (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń); Dr. Andrzej Wesołowski (Deputy Director of the Central Military Archives); Dr. Andrzej Biernat (Deputy Director of the State Archives); Katarzyna Kiliszek (Head Office of the State Archives); Dr. Anna Laszuk (Head Office of the State Archives); Dr. Ewa Rosowska (Head Office of the State Archives).
History of the project
The first stage of the project, completed by 2015, concerns Russian prisoners of war and internees who died in internment camps and military hospitals in Poland. Information obtained on the basis of archival sources is available in the project database. It includes information about 20 thousand deceased prisoners of war and internees.
In the next stage, the project will be extended with the data of prisoners of war and internees repatriated to Russia under a repatriation agreement concluded by virtue of the Treaty of Riga of 1921, as well as the internees who stayed in Poland.