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Opening hours of the Reading Room

Monday - Thursday: 9⁰⁰-17⁴⁵
Friday: 9⁰⁰-14⁴⁵
July - August: Monday-Friday: 9⁰⁰-14⁴⁵
15 July - 16 August: closed

History

Tradition of the State Archives in Katowice has started with the creation of the Archives of Historical Records for Silesian Voivodship in 1932. Presently, the Archives function in the Voivodeship of Silesia (without its northern part, which remains in care of the State Archives in Czestochowa) and in the western part of the Voivodship of Lesser Poland. It consists of headquarters in Katowice and seven branches in Bielsko-Biała, Cieszyn, Gliwice, Oświecim, Pszczyna, Racibórz and Żywiec.

The Collection

The State Archives in Katowice Head Office hold archival records, which cover the period from the fifteenth century to the modern times. The materials originated in the eastern part of Upper Silesia and in the western part of Lesser Poland, including Coalfield of Dabrowa (Zagłębie Dąbrowskie). Among documents antedating 1918, the Prussian territorial administration archives are of great importance, eg. Landratsamt in Kattowitz, in Lublinitz or in Tarnowitz. Key collections from the years 1918-1922, the years of Silesian uprisings and the plebiscite, include the Polish Plebiscite Commissariat in Bytom (Polski Komisariat Plebiscytowy), the Supreme People's Council in the Upper Silesia (Naczelna Rada Ludowa), the Silesian Seym and the Silesian Voivodeship Office (Urząd Wojewodzki Śląski). Numerous fonds deal with the period of the Second World War: Regierung Kattowitz, Oberpräsidium Kattowitz, Oberschlesien Provinzialverwaltung, Treuhandstelle Ost, Sondergericht Kattowitz and the records of NSDAP Gauleitung O/S Kattowitz along with its district subordinates. Moreover, one may find here collections concerning the period of Polish People's Republic (1945-1989); for example, the Silesian Voivodeship Office (Urząd Wojewódzki Śląski), the People's Voivodeship Council (Wojewódzka Rada Narodowa) and the Presidium of the People's Voivodeship Council (Prezydium Wojewódzkiej Rady Narodowej) w Katowicach. Valuable and noteworthy are also city records: Będzin (1549-1944), Bytom (1412-1945), Chorzów (1853-1945), Katowice (1865-1949), Mysłowice (1590-1944), Tarnowskie Góry (1528-1944), Woźniki (1483-1943) and Lubliniec (1411-1945). Family records like Princes zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen from Koszęcin (1609-1945), Tiele-Winckler from Miechowice (1797-1925) and Poleski from Rokitno Szlacheckie (1545-1907) stand as worthy of consideration too.

The State Archives in Katowice possess the richest collection of industrial records in Poland. Those documents embrace the records of companies, enterprises, firms and workers' societies, including the Upper Silesian Mining Office in Tarnowskie Góry (Górnośląski Urząd Górniczy), the State Coalmining Inspection in Krolewska Huta (Państwowa Inspekcja Górnicza), steelworks offices in Królewska Huta (1797-1870) and Strzybnica (1784-1922). Wealth of information provide records of Henckel von Donnersmarck's Direction General in Tarnowskie Góry (1868-1944), Giesche Aktien Gesellschaft in Katowice (1765-1945), Hohenlohe Aktien Gesellschaft in Wełnowiec (1787-1944).

After 1989, party records found their repository in the State Archives in Katowice. They are, for example, the Polish United Workers' Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza), the Polish Workers' Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza), the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna), the United People's Party (Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe) in Katowice or Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne) in Katowice.

The State Archives in Katowice also boasts bountiful cartographic collection containing military, geological, demographic maps of Silesia, Europe or other parts of the world. A special attention deserves one of the largest collection of mining maps in Europe preserved in the fond Higher Mining Office (German: Oberbergamt) in Katowice (1743-1976). Furthermore, one may encounter here rich sphragistical, photographic and poster collection.