Listy do matki niewysłane (1940–1941)

Overview & Synopsis

An edition of five letters written between 23 September 1940 and 22 May 1941 by Tadeusz Brudziński to his mother, Alina Brudzińska née Mierzejewska. The author was son to the first dean of the University of Warsaw after its rival in 1915, himself an agricultural engineer and Master of Arts in Law, during the Second World War Tadeusz Brudziński was an officer of the Polish Army and the Polish Armed Forces in the West. Originally written without the intention to send them to the addressee but rather a way for news of the author’s fate to reach his family in case of his demise, the letters are a valuable source for the study of Vilnius during the September Campaign of 1939, the tribulations of Polish officers as they pushed through Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden to France, and above all of the 1st (201st) Pomeranian Heavy Artillery Regiment, its formation, combat trail, and the fate of its soldiers and officers during the French Campaign of 1940. They also feature asides describing the daily life in London under German bombardment and the everyday life of their author which shade on the issues that usually elude researchers, like the contacts emigres had with occupied Poland and the material aspect of their lives. This edition of Tadeusz Brudziński’s letters is accompanied by an extensive biographical introduction, based on official documents as well material from the family archive, which also allowed for including photographs of the author and his mother.