Polish Armed Forces in Scotland Project

Oral history recordings, memoirs, photographs and related papers.

The Polish Armed Forces Project was set up by Dr Petr Lesniewski, honorary research fellow at the University of Dundee. The object of the project is to collect oral history, memoirs, testimonials, recollections, documents and any other related material recording the presence of the 200,000 plus Polish soldiers, sailors and airmen who arrived in Scotland between 1940 and 1947. During the Second World War, Polish servicemen were interned in Hungary and Romania, held in forced labour camps in Russia, or forcibly conscripted into the German Army. Many thousands of them escaped to join the Allied war effort and were sent to Scotland for retraining at the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, stationed in and around Leven and Largo in Fife, and the Polish First Armoured Division in Perth and towns and villages throughout Angus. At the end of the war many of the Polish soldiers trained in Fife who returned to their homeland became secret agents with the underground Home Army and lost their lives, whilst others vanished in Stalin's camps. As a result, thousands of the Polish servicemen stationed in Scotland chose to remain and were assimilated into Scottish society.

Usually chronological within series.

Open for consultation subject to preservation requirements. Access must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act (2018), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, 2018) and any other relevant legislation or restrictions. Clinical information is closed for 100 years.

The Polish Armed Forces Project was set up by Dr Petr Lesniewski, honorary research fellow at the University of Dundee. The object of the project is to collect oral history, memoirs, testimonials, recollections, documents and any other related material recording the presence of the 200,000 plus Polish soldiers, sailors and airmen who arrived in Scotland between 1940 and 1947. During the Second World War, Polish servicemen were interned in Hungary and Romania, held in forced labour camps in Russia, or forcibly conscripted into the German Army. Many thousands of them escaped to join the Allied war effort and were sent to Scotland for retraining at the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, stationed in and around Leven and Largo in Fife, and the Polish First Armoured Division in Perth and towns and villages throughout Angus. At the end of the war many of the Polish soldiers trained in Fife who returned to their homeland became secret agents with the underground Home Army and lost their lives, whilst others vanished in Stalin's camps. As a result, thousands of the Polish servicemen stationed in Scotland chose to remain and were assimilated into Scottish society.

The records are on magnetic tape and paper and include photographs.

Description compiled by Gemma, Lee, March 2007.

Reproduction is available subject to preservation requirements. Charges may be made for this service, and copyright and other restrictions may apply; please check with the Duty Archivist.

Expected

Published

Catalogued

MS 145