STRUGGLE FOR THE SO-CALLED RECLAMATION OF CULTURAL GOODS IN VILNIUS AFTER WORLD WAR II

Abstract

The article describes the so-called requisition campaign carried out in Vilnius city and region and Kaunas, Lithuania, the aim of which was to recover the cultural heritage which was supposed to stay abroad as a result of the change of borders after World War II for the Polish State and its citizens People connected with the Cultural Department established by the Polish Committee of National Liberation in 1944 at the Office of the Chief Plenipotentiary for Evacuation in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Cultural Department carried out this activity under the Agreement between the Polish Committee of National Liberation and the Government of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic regarding the evacuation of Polish citizens from Soviet Lithuania and Lithuanian citizens from Poland concerning the mutual repatriation of peoples. The article aims to recall the private collections and most important cultural institutions in Vilnius from the period before 1939 which failed to be transported from Vilnius to Poland, despite the great efforts of many people. However, regardless of the result, the actions described and those who conducted them deserve to be recalled and mentioned in the subject-matter literature.

Keywords

• Vilnius
• reclamation
• National Museum in Warsaw
• Maria Rzeuska
• museum exhibits
• Vilnius collections