The year is 1997. Janusz Allina, due to a random contact with a man of the same name living in Israel, learns of his Jewish origins. This is because the man, who contacted him via the internet, turned out to be his relative. Astonished by the information, Janusz Allina begins a family investigation. The first person with whom he decides to share his discovery, at the same time verifying it, was his uncle Zygmunt (Janusz's father was already dead). During the conversation, it turned out that the uncle had himself experienced a similar situation less than 30 years earlier (1968) when taking part in the inheritance of an unknown aunt from the USA. The information concerning his origin was then provided to him by the bank's employees. Zygmunt, just like Janusz later, decided to confront the knowledge with an older representative of the family, his aunt Stefania Allinówna (the sister of the deceased father). The aunt confirmed the information about the Jewish roots of the Allina family. However, in view of the increasing anti-Semitism in Poland (https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/tradycja-i-kultura-zydowska/historia-zydow-w-polsce/marzec-%2768), she made him swear to keep this knowledge to himself. It also turned out that Stefania herself only found out that she was Jewish in 1932, when she, together with her brothers (Karol and Bogusław), were sorting out her late father's documents - Zygmunt Karol Allina. Due to the fact that this incident also took place at a time of increased anti-Semitism, the siblings also decided to keep the information concerning their origin a secret. The progenitors of the Polish branch of the family were inhabitants of Austria-Hungary, Zygmunt Karol (1867-1932) and Julia (?-1944) (née Rauch) Allina. The couple settled in Warsaw at the end of the 19th century. Before the move, they both converted to Catholicism. They also baptised each of their three children: Karol (1894-1967), Stefania (1895-1988), and Boguslaw (1897-1956). Keeping the information about the family's Jewish background a secret was intended to protect future generations of the Allina family from the threat of anti-Semitism. Because almost every time its members discovered the truth, it coincided with a time of amplified anti-Semitic moods in Poland, each person was faced with the decision to continue to keep this information secret for the safety of their loved ones.The Allina family survived the time of the Holocaust by keeping their Jewish roots a secret. For generations, they have passed on the memory of their past orally, while at the same time protecting precious family heirlooms from destruction. Their home archive contains documents, photographs and pamphlets from the years 1907-1981, relating to family members - the doyen of the family, Zygmunt Karol Allina and his children, Karol, Stefania, and Bogusław Allina, as well as Bogusław Allina's first wife - Halina née Stankiewicz, their son from his first marriage, Ryszard, as well as his second wife, Pelagia née Lasocki, and Karol Allina's daughter, Wanda Allina. The memorabilia survived, despite two world wars and the post-war period in Poland that was difficult for the Jewish community. The fact of hiding the true identity only helped in this matter In 2018, the archives were donated to the POLIN Museum by the heirs, Janusz Allina and Krystyna Kaminska (née Allina), with the hope of preserving the memory of the family and its extraordinary fate. A numerous representation of the family collection consists in documents belonging to Boguslaw Allina, both personal and official. A significant proportion of them date back to the German occupation of 1939-1945 - surviving items include identity cards (asuweis), work cards (arbeitskarte), a certificate of work in the German reception camp at Clausewitz Street (Clausewitzstrasse) in Wrocław, or a work card issued by the labour office of the Burgweide camp (today Sołtysowice). Several documents have survived relating to the "Sztuka Ludowa" (Folk Art) family business founded by Zygmunt Karol Allina in the first decade of the 20th century and operating until the outbreak of the Second World War. The company was involved in commissioning products from folk artists and selling them in Warsaw and abroad. The post-war correspondence of the Allina siblings - Karol, Bogusław, and Stefania - is sparse but interesting, particularly by Karol Allina, who wrote to Bogusław from Cairo. During the war, he made his way to North Africa and Palestine, where he served in the Polish army almost until the very end of the war. The documents and letters are complemented by press pieces from the 1950s--1970s, as well as family photographs, both portrait and genre, from 1907-1979, depicting Zygmunt Karol Allina and his children, Karol, Stefania and Bogusław, as well as Bogusław Allina's second wife, Pelagia, his son from his first marriage, Ryszard, and Wanda Allina. Each of these objects carries a cognitive value, provides a source of knowledge about the people and their fate, and is a vehicle for preserving the memory of the Allina family history, which has been hidden for decades.
Marta Frączkiewicz and Monika Harchut