Institute of National Remembrance

Damskie kożuchy ze skóry owczej wystawione na sprzedaż na targowisku w Nowym Targu
Podhale furriery and sheepskin coat: Nowy Targ tanneries, serdak and cucha
The guild of furriers in Nowy Targ was established in 1624, but by 1660 there was not a single furrier in the town. In the 19th century, it was the... Read more...
Pilot w skorzanej kurtce lotniczej przed mysliwcem PZL P.11 II RP
PZL P.11 and Zygmunt Puławski: Gull wing, Polish duralumin and leather jackets of pilots of the Second Polish Republic
Zygmunt Puławski designed a gull-wing for the fighter, angled at the fuselage so as not to obstruct the pilot's view of the sky – a solution the world dubbed the... Read more...
Legendarny pistolet Vis wz. 35 z Fabryki Broni w Radomiu
The Radom Arms Factory and the Vis wz. 35 Pistol: Carbon steel, oak bark-tanned leather holsters, and the precision of the Second Polish Republic
In May 1922, a commission from the Ministry of Military Affairs toured several cities and selected Radom. Land was transferred at the end of November, construction began in March 1923,... Read more...
Pracownia introligatorska Roberta Jahody w Krakowie - zlote tloczenia na skorze
Masters of Leather and Gold: Robert Jahoda and Artistic Bookbinding in the Second Polish Republic
Robert Jahoda (1862–1947) learned bookbinding from Filip Kwis in Krakow, then in Tarnów, Lviv, and Vienna; he opened his own workshop in 1887 at Main Market Square 37, and from... Read more...
Mistrzowski warsztat rękawicznika na ul. Chmielnej w Warszawie - archiwalna rekonstrukcja rzemiosła
Warsaw Glovers and Furriers: The Chmielna Guild and hand-sewing with kidskin
The guild of Warsaw glovemakers was established in 1726 (or 1736 – sources differ). Twelve cut pieces and about two thousand stitches per pair, five years of apprenticeship and a... Read more...
Kolonia robotnicza i fabryka obuwia Bata w Chełmku - modernistyczne miasto z czerwonej cegły
Polish Bata Footwear Company: Red brick and garden city on the Przemsza
The Polish Footwear Company "Bata" SA was registered in Krakow in December 1929; two years later, the municipal pasture in Chełmek was exchanged for Prince Adam Zygmunt Sapieha's forest, and... Read more...
Tradycyjne kopyta szewskie w warsztacie rzemieślniczym w Kalwarii Zebrzydowskiej
Kalwaria Shoemaking Basin and Stanisław Ryłko: With a Suitcase on a Night Train
In 1906, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska had 1,476 inhabitants, including seven shoemakers and seventy-two carpenters. Today, there are over 650 footwear companies operating in the commune alone. The history of the basin:... Read more...
Zabytkowa fabryka obuwia w Bydgoszczy - dawna fabryka Weynerowskich i Pomorskie Zakłady Przemysłu Skórzanego Kobra
Wiktor Weynerowski and Sons: From a small workshop to the "LEO" S.A. shoe empire and the armored "Cobra"
From the felt shoe workshop of 1876, through Paul Sellner's building on Kościuszki Street and the "LEO" joint-stock company of 1932, to the state-owned "Kobra," which produced 13,000 pairs a... Read more...
Jan Kielman - legendarna pracownia rzemiosła na Chmielnej w Warszawie
Jan Kielman: Indestructible Stitch. How a Workshop on Chmielna Street Survived Partitions, Bombs, and Communism
Poland's oldest continuously operating shoemaking workshop: Chmielna since 1883, five generations of Kielmans. Verified archive — butt leather, juche leather and vegetable tanning versus chrome, foot outline and last made... Read more...