What happened to chests 1a-3a? The fate of collections and documents of the Silesian Library in Katowice under occupation

The Silesian Library (Silesian Public Library), in the interwar period (1922–1939), was one ofthe youngest and most dynamically developing research libraries in Poland at that time. It was possible, inter alia, thanks to the special political status ofthe Silesian Voivodeship, the autonomous status of which (the treasury, the police and partly legislation) created exceptionally favourable conditions for the functioning of cultural institutions. In 1939, its book collection consisted of about 104.000 volumes, including many valuable collections (old prints, silesiaca2 and magazines). The outbreak ofWorld War II put an end to the further expansion of the library. The subject of the article is the fate of 3 out of 32 chests taken from Katowice to Lwów in the first days of the war. The author deals with the history of chests marked with reference numbers 1a–3a. He tries to reconstruct the next stages of the odyssey in Lwów, until 1946, when the “trail” breaks off. The text describes postwar attempts undertaken by the director ofthe Silesian Library, Paweł Rybicki, to find the lost chests. For the first time in professional literature, an attempt was made to reconstruct the fate of the lost shipment with boxes 1a-3a, along with the general characteristics ofits contents. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the catalogues and library inventories that could help to establish what the Library actually lost have been misplaced. In this context, the author comments on the chances of finding the lost chests after nearly 80 years and addresses the research prospects.