Page 11 - Narcyz Witczak - Witaczyński

Since 2014, the more than 15 million photo- unfolding work, a key and an invitation to examine
graphs stored in the National Digital Archives
have included a remarkable collection of about 4,500 photographs of Polish cavalry taken in the interwar period. They were the work of Narcyz Witczak-Witaczyński, soldier, cavalryman and photographer. His heirs donated this valuable collection to the National Digital Archives with the conviction that this is the proper place for both the perpetual storage of the photographs, as well as their presentation as historical sources, to be generally available to all interested parties. Witczak-Witaczyń- ski’s photographs come from the period between 1919 and 1939, which is to say from the time when, along with the reconstruction of the state, its army was recreated, including the cavalry, so dear to the hearts of all Poles. The fate of this military formation forms the main theme of the photographs, although the album prepared by the National Digital Archives also includes other photographs. Part of the collection consists of portraits of family, friends and colleagues: Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, the commanders of the regiments in which Witczak-Witaczyński served, and friends from Garwolin, such as Romek Mularczyk (Roman Bratny) and Teodor Drewitz, honorary patron of the standard borne by the 1st Regiment of Mounted Fusiliers.
Preserved on glass and photographic film, the images show us a world whose time has irrevocably passed, and yet is constantly present in our minds as an integral part of the story about the power of the Polish army, based on the military strength of its cavalry. The motif of charging cavalry is permanently recorded in the military tradition of the Polish army. In Witczak-Witaczyński’s photographs, the final act of that story is played out – as a beautiful epilogue to the history of the Polish cavalry.
This album constitutes a selection and overview – by necessity subjective and incomplete – of Narcyz Witczak-Witaczyński’s photographic legacy. It is an
the entire collection carefully stored in the National Digital Archives.
Wojciech Woźniak PhD General Director of National Archives at The Head Office of State Archives
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