Notes of a Curator at the National Museum
published in 1970 in the second volume of the book
Struggle for Cultural Goods is the only generally available
testimony to saving the Wilanów historic monuments by
Jan Morawiński, a forgotten hero from the times of WW II.
Additionally priceless because of Morawiński documenting
the looting of 137 paintings belonging to the pre-WW II
Branicki collection at Wilanów. The above-mentioned Notes
were published by the Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy after
the manuscript kept in the private archive of the author’s
daughter Agnieszka Morawińska. The notes, however,
resemble pieces of paper torn from a notebook in which
an earlier chapter is missing. The missing chapter does exist,
yet for unknown reasons was omitted in the two-volume
Struggle for Cultural Goods. Warsaw 1939–1945 edited by
Prof. Stanisław Lorentz.
The present paper is based on Morawiński’s hand-written
testimony, supported by archival sources and recollections
of his colleagues from the National Museum in Warsaw
(MNW). From August 1939 to August 1944, Jan Morawiński,
together with others, was involved in saving precious museum
exhibits in the Museum building, but also throughout
Warsaw. He was involved in packing the historic monuments
into crates which were to help them survive the toughest
times, and he helped to put out fires at the Museum, risking
his own life. Moreover, he rescued the Royal Castle collections
during the hardest bombing of Warsaw, transporting
them to the storages in Warsaw’s Jerozolimskie Avenue. For
his dedication he was awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross of
the 5th class by Gen. Juliusz Rómmel.
After Warsaw’s surrender, he was assigned Head of
MNW’s storerooms and inventories: when Director Lorentz
was absent, he acted as his deputy. In the first period of
the Nazi occupation he courageously faced German officials.
Furthermore, he headed the clandestine action of inventorying
and documenting German destructions and plundering.
The knowledge amassed in this way was extremely helpful
in the restitution of the looted historic monuments, not only
museum ones. He also contributed to documenting the destruction
of the Warsaw Castle. Imprisoned by the Nazis, he
went through Gestapo’s hands at Daniłowiczowska Street
in Warsaw. Later on, he became manager of the Museum
of Old Warsaw in the Old Town, at the same time acting
as a guardian of the Wilanów collection. Following the defeat
of the Warsaw Uprising, he participated in the so-called
Pruszków Action in whose course he was badly injured.
A FORGOTTEN HERO: JAN MORAWIŃSKI
(1907–1949)