Summary

The section of “Studies and articles” opens with a work by Andrzej Matusiewicz devoted to the history of Dowspuda estate after the year 1831. In the first part the author describes the process, lasting a few years (1831–1835), of taking over of the estate: beginning with sequestration, through government administration and ending with confiscation, as well as the history of Dowspuda donatories and administrators managing it. The second part is a description of the history of destruction of the palace and an attempt to determine who bears responsibility for that. The text is complemented with biographical entries of consecutive owners and administrators.

In his article on a change of the channel of the Rospuda (Douspuda, Dowspuda) River Tomasz Naruszewicz tries to prove, on the basis of documents, old maps, oral tradition and an on-site visit, a hypothesis that the Rospuda River near Bakalarzewo once flowed on the east side of the town and not on the right side as it does today. The change was to take place at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries (before the plague around 1710). The last item in this section is an extensive text by Tadeusz Radziwonowicz on settling of Gypsy people in the Suwalszczyzna and “making them productive”, mainly in the 1960s. It was then that the communist authorities made an attempt to finally put an end to Gypsy nomadic way of life. The author presents legal regulations which were then introduced, organisational solutions used, methods and instances of how the law was broken by local authorities. A substantial part of the work is devoted to attempts at providing Gypsy children with education. The author makes use of Gypsies’ stories and shows how Gypsies construed the actions of the authorities.

The section of “Announcements” begins with articles by Anetta Ejdulis and Wieslaw Kapla devoted to an analysis of burial mound number 6 in Garbas I, stand 1 in the Commune of Filipow. Twelve cinerary urn burials of men, women and children were discovered in 11 tombs in this family burial mound, which dates back to the period of migration of people (4th – 6th/7th centuries).

Marek Sidor presents Count Ludwik Michal Pac as a Polish landowner in an English style. Looking for English models in L. Pac’s activities, the author analyses particular areas of Pac’s activities: agriculture and animal husbandry, attempts at industrialization of his estate, and its management.

An extensive article by Zbigniew Faltynowicz describing connections of Czeslaw Milosz with the Suwalszczyzna opens the section of “Profiles”. The work takes on the character of a calendar. The first period is a time when the poet’s parents and brother lived in Suwalki (1926–1935) and visited Krasnogruda. Consecutive decades, until 1989, are only references to Suwalszczyzna found in the output of the future Nobel prize winner. A new chapter was opened by the poet’s visits to the Suwalszczyzna (1989–1997). A large fragment of the text titled “In Memoriam”, gives a list of events until the year 2011, being evidence of lasting remembrance about Cz. Milosz in the Suwalszczyzna.

Artur Ochal presents a profile of Colonel Jan Wojcik (1893–1974) who was a commander of the “Sejny” Battalion of the Border Protection Corps for many years (1931–1937).

The section of “Materials” begins with a fragment of Jurij Karcow’s memoirs, prepared by Elena Michajlowna Bukreeva. J. Karcow was the owner of Dowspuda estate for many years (1873–1919). He belonged to the few Russian owners of entails who lived in them and managed them personally. The memoirs cover the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Jaroslaw Schabienski prepared for publication a set of 30 documents from Krzysztof Zadrag’s collection, concerning disputes between the “Solidarity” movement and the communist authorities about destination of the building raised at the end of the 1970s, which was to be a seat of the provincial authorities of the Polish United Workers’ Party. The same author also prepared for publication a list of posts intended for nomenklatura in the Suwalki Province. The list was made in 1975. It shows which posts in the newly established Suwalki Province were filled by particular bodies of the Polish United Workers’ Party.

The section “Reviews, Discussions, Polemics” contains write-ups of six publications, in this a biographical entry of Maksymilian Strasz printed in XLIV volume of the “Polish Biographic Dictionary. The remaining publications inclede a work by Stanislaw Czerep First World War Great Winter Operation. Activities In Masurian-Augustow Direction From 7 To 21 February 1915, two reviews by Andrzej Matusiewicz: Emergency Ambulance Service In Suwalki and Polish Sightseeing Association 1907–1950. Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Association 1950–2007 in Suwalki, a biography of bishop Stanislaw Kostka Lukomski by Rev. Tadeusz Bialous, and a selection of sources Augustow Sweep Operation – July 1945 edited by Jan Jerzy Milewski and Anna Pyzewska. The reviews are written by Adam Cz. Dobronski, Piotr Lapinski, Marek Strasz and Krzysztof Sychowicz.

Traditionally, the volume includes chronicles of activities conducted in 2010 by the Suwalsko-Augustowskie Scientific Society, the District Museum in Suwalki and the State Archives in Suwalki, as well as name and geographical indexes.

A bibliography of the contents of five volumes of the “Augustowsko-Suwalski Yearbook” (from volume VI to X) prepared by Andrzej Matusiewicz closes this volume.

Tłumaczyła Elżbieta Rzemieniewska