Objects

The diploma is the oldest object connected with the history of Warsaw University in the collection of the POLIN Museum. Stanisław Kramsztyk was one of the first five graduates of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Warsaw Main School. The metal tube in which the diploma was kept has also been preserved.

Stanisław Kramsztyk (1841-1906) was an eminent natural scientist, also a populariser of science, and co-author of encyclopaedic entries.

The document was donated to the POLIN Museum collection by Krzysztof Prochaska (son of Joanna Prochaska, née Kramsztyk), together with many other family heirlooms.

He received it from Maria Gross – the stepdaughter of Stanisław's son Stefan Kramsztyk who survived the Holocaust. Hiding, she kept this beautiful diploma of an extraordinary scholar during the war.

In the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Okopowa Street, the grave of Stanisław Kramsztyk has been preserved (https://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/id_52376/size_normal/photo.jpg, accessed 10.11.2021).