Objects

When Paulina Włodawer had to retire due to health reasons, she began to write down her memories from the war period. She conducted her work like a journal: each subsequent note bears its own day of entry. She wrote for her son, Aleksander Włodawer, which is apparent in the content when, for example, she identifies certain people or objects (e.g. remarks about white furniture sold in Poland before she left for Sweden), and especially while relating to her husband, Artur Włodawer - she writes about him: ,Dad’. Therefore she tells her story - to her son.

She began writing on 2 September 1980, in a relatively thin notebook. When she filled down the entire notebook in a little over a month and began to write in another (and then another), already cautiously reaching for a thicker ones – she was surprised by the diary's volume. She was also surprised by how time consuming it was. She did not finish the diaries until January 1982. She was losing her sight; in three densely written notebooks the handwriting reflects her progressive illness.

The diary of Paulina Włodawer is not only an extraordinary text of personal document literature, it is also a very rich source of historical knowledge.

Quotations from the diary are contextually inserted into the notes for the objects of this group - according to the Polish transcription prepared by Anna Pyżewska (Sybir Memorial Museum).