Summary

The seventh volume of the Yearbook of Augustów and Suwałki opens with a comprehensive article by Andrzej Matusiewicz titled The Private Seven-Form School of Commerce in Suwałki 1906-1914. The author presents here the history of the school founded in Suwałki in 1906, the first secondary school, with Polish as the language of instruction, to open after years of oppression and russification by the Russian invaders. The author describes the circumstances of its establishment, its timetable and its innovative, in many respects, syllabus, the makeup of the staff as well as the number and background of its students. Presented are efforts undertaken by the Polish community to provide funding to guarantee proper functioning of the school, education of poorer students and granting of scholarships. Much is said about the fostering of patriotic attitudes among its students, love of Polish history, language and countryside. The author also presents the further fates of the school graduates, their engagement in the struggle for independence of Poland and their political and professional careers in the period of the 2nd Republic.

Krzysztof Skłodowski in his article: The Infrastructure and “Local Equipment” of the Garrison in Suwałki (1922-1939) describes the organization and competences of the military authorities responsible for the issues connected with the quartering of the troops stationing during the interwar period in Suwałki. The author presents the garrison infrastructure: the complex of army barracks, facilities used by the army, including the also the so called “garrison grounds” and training fields. A lot of attention has been devoted to the discussion of particular complexes and facilities, realized investments, and efforts aimed at improvement of the conditions of the soldiers’ service and training.

The Organization and Activities of the Augustów District of the Polish Military Organization is the title of the article by Jarosław Szlaszyński, in which the author discusses underground activities conducted by the local Augustów structures of the PMO in the final stages of the First World War and during the protracted (until the middle of 1919) German occupation Augustów region. The text presents the phases of the formation of the PMO, its make-up and number of participants, political and military situation of the region after 11 November 1918, and finally the military activities which intensified in the spring of 1919. A great value of the paper lies in its including numerous and comprehensive biograms of the organizers, commanders and ordinary members of the PMO in the Augustów region.

The Release section opens with a text by Rev. Witold Jemielity titled The Creation of the Parish of Rutka Tartak. Apart from information concerning the circumstances of the foundation of the mentioned above parish and the data concerning its faithful, the author presents the history of the district and also organization and changes of the church (parish and diocese) administration in the northern part of the Suwałki region and south-west Lithuania. A lot of space has been also devoted to the issues of ethnic conflicts and arising on their grounds disputes concerning the language of the services which at the turn of the 20th century divided the living here Poles and Lithuanians.

Andrzej Matusiewicz in his release on the Museum of Suwałki Land (1909-1914) presents the circumstances of the establishment and the features of the first collections and exhibition of 1909, a collective achievement of the local community and the museum in Suwałki. He also depicts the reasons for its liquidation (the historical and national character of the collections) and the later fortunes of the exhibits.

The Monument of Józef Piłsudski in Filipów is the title of the elaboration by Artur Ochała devoted to the initiative of commemorating Józef Piłsudski’s merits, undertaken in 1930 by the soldiers of the KOP Battalion “Suwałki” and inhabitants of Filipów.

A different subject is discussed by Krzysztof Snarski in his release titled The Stereotypical and Real Image of the Polish Old-Believer. The author presents here the genesis of the Old-Believer movement and the image of Old-Believers as an ethnic and religious group. He refers also to the current and conventional images of Old-Believers in literature and the media.

The section Materials includes three papers. Irena Drowdwiłło-Batura’s The Relics of Traditional Culture in the Consciousness of Inhabitants of the Augustów District at the End of 20th Century: Nomenclature, Spirits, Fears, Visions, Medicine – the result of many year’s research, interviews and oral accounts of the local inhabitants of the villages of Augustów District. It is a record, supplemented with an authorial commentary, of so far unpublished legends and folk tales concerning the origin of topographic names, treasure troves, haunted places, ghosts, devils, prophesies, methods of maintaining health and other regional curios.

Among other Material texts there are: Drucki-Lubecki and the Starosty of Sejwy at the end of 18c written by Grzegorz Krupiński and based on the preserved correspondence, from the collections of the Public Record Office, between Franciszek Drucki-Lubecki and his wife Teresa and conducted with the clerks of the Prussian Białystok Chamber as regards financial and fiscal matters. It contains, among other data, an inventory of the buildings in the Starosty of Sejwy which belonged to the Drucki-Lubecki family, a register of the movables and furniture, as well as a register of the tenants and servants.

Izabela Filipiak-Sokołowska and Janusz Sokołowski are the authors of the elaboration titled On Suwałki Folk Songs and Selected Examples of Their Regional Features, written basing on the sheets compiled in the 19c by Oskar Kolberg, and also on the recordings of folk songs from the Suwałki region registered in the fifties and eighties of the 20c. It is accompanied by an appendix containing a selection of the unpublished so far folk songs of the Suwałki region.

In the Reviews section Wojciech Batura discusses the published in 2003 and 2005, by the Polish Historical Society, Branch in Białystok, two books of the Biographical Dictionary of Białystok, Łomża and Suwałki.

The volume is concluded by the chronicle of activities conducted in 2006 by the Scientific Society of Augustów and Suwałki, the Regional Museum in Suwałki and the National Archive in Suwałki.

Tłumaczył: Zdzisław Dudek