At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, residents of what was then Galicia left for the Balkans, only to return to Poland several decades later. In 1946–47, approximately 18,000 re-emigrants settled in the area of present-day Bolesławiec County and became an exceptionally distinctive group that continues to share a common tradition and history, preserving customs and folklore that combine the cultures of former Galicia, the Balkans and Poland.
Opening the exhibition, the Marshal of the Senate recalled that people arrived in the former Recovered Territories from various parts of pre-war Poland, including Lviv and Volhynia. A group of Poles from Bosnia and Herzegovina also settled there voluntarily; they had arrived in that region of their own accord at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. As he emphasized, they continue to cultivate the traditions of the community established there. In the Marshal’s view, knowledge of the history of Polish emigration—both voluntary and forced—is enriching. He noted that the Senate seeks to promote this knowledge.
During the ceremony, Bogdan Borusewicz thanked the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Poland, Duško Kovačević, for organizing the exhibition.
Bolesławiec County Head Dariusz Kwaśniewski considers his county exceptional because of the re-emigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina. As he said, to this day they pray, eat and dress somewhat differently. “That is why,” the county head emphasized, “we are doing everything to preserve the memory of their history.” The exhibition serves this purpose, as do the summer camps for Bosnian children organized in Bolesławiec County, the restoration of Polish cemeteries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and efforts to commemorate figures such as the parish priest of Gumjera, Antoni Dujlović, murdered by Chetniks in 1943.
Senator Jan Michalski, who initiated bringing the exhibition to the Senate, emphasized that its opening was a special moment when the residents of Bolesławiec County could be proud of their origins.
The exhibition, organized by the Senate Committee on Emigration and Links with Poles Abroad, consists of a dozen or so panels with photographs recalling, among other things, residents and important events in the lives of Polish villages in Bosnia during the first half of the 20th century, as well as Polish chapels and churches built in those areas soon after the Poles settled there. The photographs show what work Poles did, as well as their participation in the resistance movement during World War II.
The exhibition was prepared by the Bolesławiec County Office, the “Koło Chłopa” Association and the Polish-Balkan Friendship Association “Koło” to mark the 120th anniversary of the expulsion of Poles and the 70th anniversary of their re-emigration to the area of present-day Bolesławiec County.
Senate/Bolesławiec County Office/ii