Polish statistical research during the Second World War

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the research conducted by the Polish statisticians within 1939—1945. The paper was prepared on the basis of the query in the Central Statistical Archive of CSO and the State Archive of the Capital City of Warsaw, as well as German statistical sources, reports, memoirs, chronicles, press articles, biographies and historical monographs. It presents the work of the Polish statisticians employed by the Statistical Office of General Government in Cracow and the underground statistical research conducted mainly by the Institute of Social Economy under the name of the Central Welfare Council in Warsaw, including especially the effort of Ludwik Landau and Jan Piekalkiewicz. Also, the illegal statistical education and activity of the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile relating to the statistics were discussed. The study shows that under the Nazi occupation Polish statisticians conducted underground statistical research mainly in Cracow and Warsaw and their results were delivered to the structures of the Polish Underground State and to the Polish Government in exile in London.