One of the items on the agenda of the May session of Bolesławiec City Council was a vote on draft resolutions concerning the conferral of the title “Distinguished for the City of Bolesławiec”. The councillors honoured the following people:

  • Helena Strzelczak-Kunicka,
  • Halina Waniak,
  • Wanda Draj,
  • Zygmunt Brusiło (pictured in the header image).

The councillors adopted each resolution unanimously.

Below, we present profiles of those Distinguished for the City of Bolesławiec, prepared by the Bolesławiec municipal authorities.

Zygmunt Brusiło

A graduate of the University of Wrocław, where he studied history, and of postgraduate studies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Wrocław. In 1964, he began his professional career at the General Secondary School in Bolesławiec, where he taught history and knowledge about Poland, and served as headmaster from 1972 to 1975. From 1975 until retirement, he was headmaster of the Vocational School Complex.

From the moment he moved to Bolesławiec and began working there, he actively engaged in social activities for the benefit of the city and region. For many years, he was a tour guide in Lower Silesia, working closely with the Bolesławiec branch of PTTK. He helped popularise knowledge about the region, including as the author and co-author of numerous publications. While teaching at school, he passed on knowledge about “small homelands” to successive generations.

Since the 1980s, as a member of the Bolesławiec Enthusiasts’ Society (TMB) and the Lower Silesian Social and Cultural Society (DTSK, since 2015 the Lower Silesian Regional Society – DTR) in Wrocław, he began to pursue his passion for regional studies more broadly. Since 1992, he has served as president of TMB, and for several terms has also been a member of the authorities of DTSK (DTR).

In the journal “Lower Silesia”, published by DTSK (DTR), he contributed articles devoted to teaching regional knowledge and the history of Bolesławiec, including the settlement of re-emigrants from Yugoslavia in the Bolesławiec region. Actively involved in TMB, he was also part of the editorial team of the monthly “Głos Bolesławca”, published from 1992 to 1997, where he published texts about the city’s history and present day. In 1996, as one of the editors of “Głos Bolesławca”, Z. Brusiło took part in Warsaw in a meeting of representatives of the regional press with President of the Republic of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski.

In 2008, Z. Brusiło co-organised the ceremonial celebrations of TMB’s 30th anniversary and the accompanying jubilee exhibition. He represented TMB several times at nationwide regionalists’ conventions and took part in several dozen conferences organised by other regional associations across the country. In 1997, DTSK entrusted him with organising the 20th Lower Silesian Regional Meetings (main theme: regionalists on culture), and in 2003 the 26th Lower Silesian Regionalists’ Meetings (main theme: regional identity and European integration).

He was one of the authors of the publication “Bolesławiec – An Outline of the City’s Monograph”, issued in 2001 and the first extensive post-war study devoted to the history of Bolesławiec. When the “Bolesławiec Yearbook” was established in 2008, he became a regular author of articles on the history of Bolesławiec and the region.

Z. Brusiło was also very active in the Bolesławiec Senior Council.

The establishment by TMB of its first contacts with former residents of the city belonging to the Homeland Association (Bundesheimatgruppe Bunzlau zu Siegburg) led in 1992 to the start of official cooperation between the associations, and subsequently between the cities of Siegburg and Bolesławiec. These contacts made it possible to obtain many valuable historical materials and significantly broaden knowledge of the city’s past.

In 2012, TMB, with the support of the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec, organised an exhibition at the Municipal Public Library summarising 20 years of cooperation with Siegburg. The Bolesławiec exhibition on the cooperation was also presented in Siegburg. Many materials provided by partners from Germany were used, mainly concerning Father Paul Sauer — the last German Catholic parish priest in Bolesławiec (until 1946). In 2004, Z. Brusiło was a speaker at a Polish-German academic conference devoted to this figure and co-author of the post-conference publication. From then on, he supported the efforts of the Siegburg Homeland Association to honour Father Sauer with a commemorative plaque in Bolesławiec.

Under Z. Brusiło’s leadership, TMB pursued and carried out the following important objectives and tasks:

  • its own calendars, folders, drawings of monuments, postcards, the monthly “Głos Bolesławca” from 1992 to 1997, and the publication “XX Years of TMB” in 1998 were issued;
  • under TMB’s patronage, funds were raised to purchase equipment for the hospital (a laparoscope and cardiac ultrasound equipment);
  • at Z. Brusiło’s initiative, the “Flower-covered Balconies” competition began in 1995; it is now held in an expanded format under the name “Bolesławiec in Flowers” and is organised jointly with the City Office;
  • in 1995, TMB became patron of an initiative by its member Adam Kowalski to erect the Kresy Inhabitants Monument on the 50th anniversary of the arrival in Bolesławiec of the first transport from the Kresy region (Drohobycz);
  • it became patron of the 1996 unveiling of a plaque commemorating the 50th anniversary of the return to their homeland of re-emigrants from Yugoslavia, placed on the Kresy Inhabitants Monument;
  • as part of regional education, competitions entitled “My Little Homeland” were organised in schools in the city and region; as part of the fifth edition, a publication containing the winners’ works in the categories of poems, stories and interviews was issued.

For his social activities, Z. Brusiło received numerous distinctions from various institutions, including the commemorative medal “For Merit to DTSK” (1996, 2003), the Medal of the Commission of National Education (2002), the “Distinguished for Polish Culture” badge (2010), and the Gold Honorary Badge “Distinguished for the Lower Silesian Voivodeship” (2015).

Wanda Draj

She was born on 10 February 1949 in Lwówek Śląski. She completed secondary school in her hometown. After graduating, she continued her education in Wrocław at the State Medical School – Medical Study Programme for Hygiene Instructors. In 1969, she began working at the State Sanitary Inspectorate in Bolesławiec as a hygiene instructor in the School Hygiene, Municipal Hygiene, and Nutrition and Food departments. In the 1970s, she took part in efforts to improve hygiene in towns and villages, aimed at raising hygiene standards and improving sanitary conditions.

She also worked to improve the sanitary and technical condition of facilities, maintain sanitary and hygienic conditions during food production and storage, and ensure proper sanitary and hygienic conditions in service establishments.

In the 1980s, after the re-establishment of the “Solidarity” trade union, while working at the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station, she served as deputy chairwoman for two years and then was chairwoman of NSZZ “Solidarity” for the following 12 years. During that time, she distributed underground newspapers and leaflets and actively supported the activities and protests of striking workers not only in Silesia, but also in Pomerania.

In 2004, already retired, she reactivated the NSZZ “Solidarity” Retirees’ and Pensioners’ Circle in Bolesławiec, where she organised trips for union members and their families, among other activities. In 2010, she joined the board of the District Organisation of NSZZ “Solidarity” in Bolesławiec County, where she continues to serve as treasurer and secretary. At the same time, she runs the Jelenia Góra Region NSZZ “Solidarity” District Office. She serves as a liaison between the workplace organisations of NSZZ “Solidarity” in the Bolesławiec region and the Regional Board.

For many years, she actively helped prepare history meetings with “Solidarity” activists from the 1980s for students from across the region. She contributed her knowledge and advice to various projects concerning the history and present-day activities of “Solidarity”, including the organisation of numerous exhibitions and the preparation of publications. She actively participated in many trade-union actions, including in Wrocław, Warsaw and Jelenia Góra. Sensitive, helpful, honest and trusted by others, she has been and continues to be involved in helping many people with employment-related matters. She took part as a volunteer in the Social IDE Foundation’s “Legal Aid for Retirees and Pensioners” project, cooperating with a lawyer. She organises New Year meetings for union members with their families, “Solidarity” supporters, and city and county authorities. She is a member of the Honorary Standard Guard of “Solidarity Bolesławiec”. Since 2018, she has been the Bolesławiec region’s delegate to the General Delegates’ Meetings of the Jelenia Góra Region of NSZZ “Solidarity” in Jelenia Góra. In 2020, she belonged to the initiative group for the construction of the “SOLIDARITY” Monument in Bolesławiec.

Helena Strzelczak-Kunicka

She represents the French Polish diaspora that came to Bolesławiec after the Second World War. She has lived in Bolesławiec for 72 years. She holds master’s degrees in economics and education. She graduated from the Oskar Lange Academy of Economics in Wrocław, the Pedagogical Study Programme in Jelenia Góra, and the postgraduate programme for teachers at the University of Wrocław’s Faculty of Philology – Institute of Library and Information Science. In 2001, she obtained the title of chartered teacher.

While working at the Electronic Schools Complex in Bolesławiec, she promoted and preserved the memory of local veterans of the Polish Underground State, as documented in the local press and television. As a committed educator, she organised numerous reading events at which she introduced young people to Bolesławiec’s historical and cultural heritage, systematically cooperating with local cultural institutions in this area.

Since the 1960s, H. Strzelczak-Kunicka has engaged in social and cultural activities for the benefit of the city and its residents on many levels. She initiated efforts to commemorate the first Polish post-war teachers and organisers of education in Bolesławiec. She served as a member of the Commission for Commemorating the First Polish Post-war Teachers, established by the city mayor.

In 2021, a plaque dedicated to the memory of the first Polish post-war teachers of Bolesławiec was ceremonially unveiled at the town hall. H. Strzelczak-Kunicka was also involved in preparing an information plaque about the location of the teachers’ graves and in specially commemorating one of them, Stefania Tajcher. She successfully petitioned to halt the process of removing her grave and for the city to take over care of the burial site. She also petitioned for S. Tajcher to be commemorated by naming one of the city’s streets after her.

She cooperates with and actively supports the work of local cultural institutions to help preserve the memory of Lower Silesia’s post-war history. She is particularly involved in efforts to commemorate settlers who came to the Bolesławiec region after the Second World War, especially the group of re-emigrants from France.

She conceived and co-initiated the installation on the Settlers’ Monument of a plaque dedicated to the arrival of this group of settlers between 1945 and 1955. As co-organiser of the plaque-unveiling ceremony, she invited the Francophone Choir from Szczawno-Zdrój, the “Jutrzenka” Song and Dance Ensemble, and the choir from Bolesławiec State Music School, and actively took part in the performance herself. The concert, entitled “Multiculturalism in Europe, Multiculturalism in Bolesławiec”, was held at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre. At H. Strzelczak-Kunicka’s initiative, the idea of Bolesławiec Region Settlers’ Day was created to integrate settler groups; it was celebrated as part of City Days. The idea received the approval of the Bolesławiec Senior Council, and Settlers’ Day was added to the programme of subsequent City Days celebrations.

H. Strzelczak-Kunicka was particularly involved in integrating Bolesławiec’s community of re-emigrants from France. She initiated, organised and participated in numerous activities. She was one of the protagonists of the film “Lower Silesia… Polish Re-emigrants from France”, recorded by the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław as part of the project “Lower Silesia. Its People, Customs, Way of Life and Songs”. In the film, she told the story of her family. In cooperation with the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec, she organised a screening of the film “Lower Silesia… Polish Re-emigrants from France”. Her biography was included in the collective publication about re-emigrants from France, “Everything Was Different Here: Memories of Bolesławiec’s Re-emigrants from France”, published in 2015 and edited by Kamilla Dudek for the Bolesławiec museum as part of the “Save from Oblivion” series.

H. Strzelczak-Kunicka also built a network of contacts that made the publication possible. She actively participated in archival work on the photographic documentation for the publication. She also promoted the history of Bolesławiec’s re-emigrants from France in sociological research conducted by Dr Jacek Kubera of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

She joined the nationwide “My Memento” project run by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw, in which she shared her story and provided sources commemorating other Bolesławiec re-emigrants from France. The project resulted in her participation in an exhibition organised by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw.

As an “expert – witness to history”, she took part in the “Gateway to Regional History” project initiated and run by Grażyna Wężyk and Sebastian Zielonka at the Public Library in Kruszyn. During a meeting on 19 December 2017, she told young people about the stories of re-emigrants from France who came to Bolesławiec and the surrounding area after the Second World War. She introduced participants to French culture and explained how the “French of Bolesławiec” helped shape the cultural identity of post-war Bolesławiec and the surrounding area. During an Easter meeting at the Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre in Kruszyn, she introduced listeners to French Easter customs. She repeatedly made photographs and exhibits concerning the French diaspora available for initiatives by municipal cultural institutions. Some of the materials were used in publications and exhibitions organised by the Museum of Ceramics, BOK-MCC and Bolesławiec County Office.

She was also the initiator and participant in a performance by the “Jutrzenka” Song and Dance Ensemble at the Ethnographic Museum in Wrocław, accompanying a ceremonial screening of a memoir film about re-emigrants from Bosnia.

H. Strzelczak-Kunicka is also active on behalf of the local senior community. She undertook decisive cultural and trade-union initiatives for retired teachers. At the turn of 2001 and 2002, she conceived, initiated and founded Bolesławiec’s first Retired Teachers’ Club, operating within the Bolesławiec branch of the Polish Teachers’ Union. She also became its first president. In 2005, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Polish Teachers’ Union, she received an acknowledgement from the Lower Silesian District Board of the union in Wrocław for this work. She remains actively involved in the club’s life. The Bolesławiec Social Association Teachers’ Club “Carpe Diem” recommended her to the fourth-term Bolesławiec Senior Council under the Mayor of Bolesławiec; she was appointed on 3 March 2020 and serves as its chairwoman.

She promoted the folklore of the Bolesławiec region through numerous performances with the “Jutrzenka” Song and Dance Ensemble, including at the South Slavic Culture Festivals, Bukovina Meetings, Balkan Culture Festivals, the Balkan Fest, the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival, municipal harvest festivals, the Bread Mystery, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Szpikolada, and outside Bolesławiec at many festivals in Lower Silesian towns and municipalities, at subsequent editions of the International Folklore Festival “Bukovina Meetings” in Jastrowie, and as part of Poroniańskie Summer. She performed with the ensemble in Piła, Lubań Śląski, Dzierżoniów and abroad—in Ukraine, Hungary and Romania.

Together with a delegation of the “Jutrzenka” Song and Dance Ensemble, she represented Bolesławiec Municipality during the ceremony consecrating Bolesławiec’s Millennium Cross on 12 September 2003. She published articles in “Wieści Gminne” and the Information Bulletin of Bolesławiec Municipality about the “Jutrzenka” ensemble’s concerts in Poland and abroad. For several decades, she has been an active member of amateur parish choirs and performs at concerts organised by parishes to enhance many religious events.

As a resident of Bolesławiec, she willingly contributes to fundraising supporting city initiatives commemorating the history of the city and Poland, such as the Plaque Commemorating the Smolensk Disaster of 2010 on Kubika Street and the Monument to the Centenary of Regaining Independence in 2018 on Bankowa Street.

For her professional work and social and cultural activities, she received numerous distinctions, including the honorary “Distinguished for Polish Culture” badge awarded by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland (2017), a special award from the Superintendent of Education in recognition of her merits to education for outstanding results in teaching and educational work (1996), and the Bronze Cross of Merit. She was also appreciated locally, receiving certificates of recognition, congratulatory letters and acknowledgements from, among others, the head of Bolesławiec Municipality, the director of the Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre in Bolesławiec based in Kruszyn, the director of the Stanisław Wyspiański Youth Cultural Centre (for participating in nationwide campaigns promoting the reading of Polish literature), the board of the Society of Friends of Lviv and the South-Eastern Borderlands in Bolesławiec (for her great commitment to helping Polish children in Ukraine), and the director of the County Centre for Education and Staff Training in Bolesławiec (for cooperation in organising the sixth edition of the County Literary Competition “Capture in Time”).

Halina Waniak

Since 25 April 2013, she has served as president of the Association of Re-emigrants from Bosnia, Their Descendants and Friends in Bolesławiec, operating since 2011 and based at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre in Bolesławiec. Under her leadership, the association has carried out numerous projects, including those with external funding, and held many meetings, exhibitions, promotional events, concerts and festivals. It has also carried out extremely important work to clean up Polish cemeteries in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The association’s most important statutory activity is caring for the burial sites of Poles and preserving the memory of the past through cultural, tourist, economic and sporting contacts with Poles who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mainly in the Banja Luka region and Prnjavor County, in the Srbac area.

After H. Waniak assumed the duties of association president, she intensified these activities. At her initiative, association members successively visited and cleaned up further Polish cemeteries, marking memorial sites with crosses and plaques. In 2014, after reaching agreements with the authorities of Prnjavor and Srbac, association members erected a cross, a commemorative plaque and bilingual information boards in Rakovac. In 2015, a cross was erected in the cemetery in Kunova at the initiative of village head Józef Potyszka. That same year, at the request of the residents of Gościszów, a cross was placed in the cemetery in Nowy Martyniec, and Halina Waniak organised both ceremonies connected with these events.

Halina Waniak helped residents of Wykroty organise a trip to Stara Dubrava to install a commemorative plaque and a cross funded by the residents of Wykroty. In 2017, association members helped determine the location of cemeteries in Stara Dubrava and took part in unveiling a plaque funded by the “Integration and Future” Association of the Wykroty and Zagajnik village communities at the cemetery in Stara Dubrava.

In 2018, as part of the project “Save from Oblivion… Polish Cemeteries of Derventa and Gradiška in Bosnia”, co-financed under the Senate of the Republic of Poland’s programme of care for the Polish diaspora and Poles abroad, association members visited cemeteries in the municipalities of Derventa and Gradiška. After photographic documentation had been prepared, clean-up work was carried out and burial sites were marked with crosses and information plaques. Local residents and the Polish diaspora organised in the “Bolesławiec” Association of Poles in Prnjavor took part. That same year, at the initiative of Halina Waniak and the village head of Czerna, a Polish cemetery in Gornji Bakinci was found and cleared, and a symbolic cross with a commemorative plaque was erected.

Association activists, together with Halina Waniak, travelled to Prnjavor at the invitation of the Polish Embassy in Sarajevo, where in November 2014 a commemorative plaque dedicated to Poles who lived from 1894 to 1946 in villages belonging to the Prnjavor parish was unveiled in the vestibule of the local Catholic church. In 2017, the president and association members took part in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at the cemetery in Devetina, honouring all Poles who had lived in northern Bosnia in the past. The necropolis is cared for by the Polish Embassy in Sarajevo and the “Bolesławiec” Association in Prnjavor.

Thanks to Halina Waniak’s commitment, association members maintain contact with the broadly understood culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina—folk art, songs and dances, and culinary traditions—cooperating in this area with the local Polish community.

The first trip took place in August 2013. It was organised jointly with the “Green Hills” Association from Osła. A group of 120 people travelled to Srbac and Prnjavor, where they held a series of meetings with local authorities. On the way back, association members met with the Polish diaspora and Poles belonging to the “MAK” Association of Poles and Friends in Gradiška in the village of Celinovac.

Halina Waniak, together with many members of the Association of Re-emigrants from Bosnia, Their Descendants and Friends, repeatedly organised and personally took part in anniversary celebrations connected with settlement in Bolesławiec and the places from which the first settlers came. At the invitation of and in cooperation with the Polish Embassy in Zagreb and the “Vistula” Association in Osijek, celebrations of the 125th anniversary of Polish settlement from Galicia in Slavonia and Baranja were organised in 2015 in Valpovo, Croatia. A photographic exhibition about Polish settlers from Galicia to Bosnia and present-day Croatia, a film about Bolesławiec, and a promotion of two volumes of Jan Bujak’s publication “Galicians and Serbs” were prepared as part of the event. A plaque commemorating the anniversary remains as a lasting trace. The Bolesławiec Brass Band and the “Mały Bolesławiec” folk ensemble performed during the ceremony.

In 2016, celebrations were held to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Poles from Bosnia in Bolesławiec County. The ceremonies took place in Bolesławiec and its partner city, Prnjavor. A publication entitled “From Bosnia to Poland” by Dr Jacek Tomasz Lis was issued, containing source documents concerning the post-war re-emigration of Poles. In 2016, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the establishment of the Catholic parish in Prnjavor, association members presented the parish with a painting of Our Lady of Częstochowa. Led by President Halina Waniak, association members also took part in the 2015 celebrations of the Orthodox festival Vielka Slava. One day was devoted to Poles and Polish culture. Polish music was particularly promoted that day, along with the city of Bolesławiec and Bolesławiec County. On that occasion, President Halina Waniak received thanks and a distinction for fruitful cooperation from the head of Srbac.

The association also actively participated in the “Little Europe” Festival in 2017. Another trip connected with Polish Diaspora Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina, combined with the “Little Europe” Festival, took place in 2019. The association’s activities, coordinated by Halina Waniak, also focus on documenting its work. Several documentary films were made: “A Polish Saga in Bosnia”, produced during the ceremony of erecting a cross in the cemetery in Rakovac (premiered in 2014). The years 2017–2018 brought two more films made in Bosnia: “Our Bosnia” and “A Forest Will Remain After Us”, which was shown, among other events, during National Minorities Days in Sarajevo and at the “Little Europe” Festival in Prnjavor.

Together with President Halina Waniak, the association actively participates in preparing and promoting publications about settlers. In 2017, two publications devoted to the post-war history of the city and its residents, issued by the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec, were promoted: “Bolesławiec Residents – They Did Not Come from Nowhere. Around the Settlement Landscape of Lower Silesia” and “Tearing Land from the Wilderness… Memories of Bolesławiec’s Re-emigrants from Yugoslavia”. Their preparation involved students interviewing association members, who actively and willingly took part in the project.

The association’s active work contributed to the publication of numerous works. In 2019, “The Settlement of Poles from Yugoslavia in the Lands of Bolesławiec County in 1946–1947”, “Detlak – Kalendrovce Miljevac, a Settlement of Polish Emigration in Bosnia” by Franciszek Kwaśniak, and “Polish Parishes in Bosnia in 1891–1946” by Jan Bujak were published. In 2020, Jan Bujak’s book “Polish Settlements in the Bosanska Gradiška and Derventa Region, 1892–1946” was issued, and in 2021 the publication “The Association of Re-emigrants from Bosnia, Their Descendants and Friends in 2010–2021”, edited by H. Waniak, was released as a record of the association’s decade of activity.

Halina Waniak and association members actively contributed to exhibitions devoted to settlers by lending exhibits and providing subject-matter input: “Where Did We Come From? Bolesławiec Settlers in the 1940s and 1950s” (2016, Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec) and “Chosen Places. The Settlement of Poles from Yugoslavia in Bolesławiec County, 1946–1947, in Archival Materials” (2021, State Archive in Wrocław – Bolesławiec Branch).

In addition to popular-science activities, Halina Waniak and the association she leads take part in organising and participating in various events. The South Slavic Culture Festival holds a special place. The association initially provided subject-matter support to the organisers, and since 2014 has been a co-organiser. As part of the festival, an exhibition of documents and photographs entitled “From Bosnia to Bolesławiec” was organised in 2014, and an outdoor exhibition entitled “Poles on Bosnian Soil” in 2015.

Halina Waniak also initiated the fifth anniversary celebrations in 2016 and the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Bolesławiec association in 2021. Every year, association members and President Halina Waniak take part in the Friendly Christmas and the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, contributing to the social life of Bolesławiec.

In solidarity with the residents of the city and county during the COVID-19 pandemic, the association’s board donated funds to purchase personal protective equipment for medical staff at the Healthcare Complex in Bolesławiec. Throughout its years of activity, the association has supported the Polish community living in Bosnia and Herzegovina during difficult times, organising, together with Bolesławiec Municipality, aid and financial assistance for flood victims and school-supply packages for children.

In recognition of her many years of work for the local community, Halina Waniak received the Silver Honorary Badge – Distinguished for the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, awarded by the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Assembly, and in 2018 the title of “Distinguished Citizen of Prnjavor Municipality”, awarded by the Municipal Council in Prnjavor. Halina Waniak was also honoured in 2015 and 2018 by the Mayor of Bolesławiec for promoting the city. The Association of Re-emigrants from Bosnia, Their Descendants and Friends, coordinated by Halina Waniak, received the same distinction in 2014 and 2017. In 2016, it was also awarded in the sixth edition of the “zDolne NGO” competition for the best non-governmental organisation in Lower Silesia working to promote the idea of Lower Silesian regionalism.