Piotr Kowalczuk
Documents and memorabilia deposited
Kazimierz Papée was Poland’s ambassador to the Holy See from 1939 to 1958. He was on excellent terms with Pope Pius XII. As a representative of the Polish Government-in-exile, he served as chargé d’affaires until 1972. He died and was buried in Rome in 1979. When liquidating the embassy, Kazimierz Papée entrusted documents and items related to its activities to various trusted individuals, including the prior of the monastery on Monte Cassino. They were meant to return to the Polish embassy at the Vatican when Poland became a free country.
Jesuits return the deposit
During a ceremony at the Polish Embassy, some of the documents that the Jesuits handed over to the Polish Embassy at the Vatican were presented. As explained by Father Zbigniew Leczkowski, provincial of the Greater Poland-Masovian province, these documents were handed over in 2001 to a Jesuit who was then working at the Pontifical Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies.
Reconstruction of the archive
Ambassador Adam Kwiatkowski expressed his warm thanks to the Jesuits for the deposited items and for their very efficient and excellent cooperation. He said that since the beginning of his mission (2022), he has been trying to acquire these memorabilia and documents from various sources, including from the family of Kazimierz Papée and his collaborator Maciej Loret. “At this moment,” said Adam Kwiatkowski, “this archive has returned to us, to the embassy.” The presentation of priceless memorabilia, mainly handed over by the families of both diplomats, took place in July last year.
Exhibition at the embassy
Among the documents and items handed over by the Jesuits, totaling about 100 kg, were: a red and white pennant with the emblem, displayed on a car, a dress sword for Amb. Kazimierz Papée’s ceremonial uniform, a thank you note from Polish organizations to Kazimierz Papée when he was the Commissioner General of the Republic in Gdańsk, an invitation to a “Chopin music concert at the Vatican performed by the band and choir of St. Peter’s Basilica under the direction of Mateusz Gliński during a memorial Mass celebrated at the initiative of the embassy to the Holy See for the soul of the late General Władysław Sikorski” shortly after his death in 1943, as well as ciphergrams, letters, and reports.
Memorial room or museum of diplomacy
Ambassador Kwiatkowski revealed that “an idea has emerged for one of the rooms in the representative part of the current embassy to become a memorial room dedicated to the activities of Kazimierz Papée.” The memorabilia may also go to the museum of diplomacy currently being created in Warsaw. The Ambassador expressed hope that the dissemination of information about the compilation of the archive concerning Kazimierz Papée would encourage other custodians to return the documents and memorabilia entrusted to them.
