Polish Consulate in Odessa in 1918 – 1920 and its Archive

In: Mižnarodni zv'jazky Ukrai͏̈ny: naukovi pošuky i znachidky : mižvidomčyj zbirnyk naukovych prac', Issue 26, p. 415-424

Abstract

General Consulate of the Republic of Poland established in Odessa in 2003 is the third Polish diplomatic mission in the Black Sea region of present – day Ukraine. The second Polish consulate, representing the reviving Polish statehood, functioned at the Black Sea between January 1919 and the beginning of February 1920, with almost a 5-month-long break, during the first Bolshevik occupation of Odessa. Zenon Belina Brzozowki was the consul in office during the period of January, 4, 1919 to March, 3, 1919 and then again since the end of August, (between April and August he stayed in Istanbul), in October and November, 1919 he was replaced by Stanisław Srokowski, a diplomat in the rank of I class consul, i.e. the present general consul. The consulate changed its location few times, and in different months the number of its employees varied from a few people to over a dozen. The consulat functioned in Odessa until March, 3, 1920 when it was evacuated along with a large group of Polish citizens because of the inevitability of the Bolshevik takeover of the city. Consulate staff and archives reached Warsaw in March 1920. Not many archival materials regarding the functioning of Polish consulat in the Black Sea region were saved.