Straty wojenne zbiorów bibliotecznych w Polsce widziane z państwowej perspektywy. Pomiędzy organizacją, polityką a etyką
War losses in library collections in Poland. Ethical dilemmas seen from a state perspective

Summary/Abstract: Estimated calculations of the war losses suffered by Poland in the area of culturalgoods are about 13,000 paintings, about 1,400 sculptures, about 125,000 manuscripts, 22,000old prints, 25,000 maps and about 15 million books. Loss of library collections is estimated ataround 66%. Many of them were irretrievably destroyed as a result of unplanned and plannedactions of destruction and plunder of Polish cultural goods by the German and Soviet invaders.To this day, it is unknown, not only how many goods were lost, but what exactly.The article covers the topic of activities aimed at determining what has been done in this matterso far, starting from 1939 to 2019, broken down into three time periods: 1939-1945; 1945-1989; 1989-2019. Knowledge on this subject has been organized, the most important papershave been pointed out, and published publications. The measurable achievements and neglectof the Polish state in this respect were emphasized. The text focuses on the activities of two institutions:the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,subjecting them to a critical assessment, based on the literature and the report of the SupremeAudit Office. Particular attention was paid to ethical dilemmas related to the registration ofcultural goods.

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