Not far from where the Sihl and Limmat rivers meet, near ETH Zurich, at number 15 on Universitätsstrasse, stands an inconspicuous 19th-century, four-storey apartment building. The ground floor houses a business premises - now a restaurant - but it was in this tenement that politically committed Polish émigrés who were active in the underground movement met for almost four decades under the guise of buying cheaper tobacco in the local shop.

History of the tenement house

At the end of the 19th century, the building housed a tobacco wholesaler run by the Polish nobleman and philanthropist J. Kossobudzki, who had settled in Zurich. For many years Kossobudzki financed various Polish initiatives, such as the publication of the patriotic monthly magazine "Przyszłość" for young people and the printing of publications of the Polish National Museum in Rapperswil. From 1865, thanks to his financial and logistical support, a clandestine Polish Reading Room operated in a tenement in Universitätsstrasse, which became a meeting and discussion place for Polish political groups in exile.

Relocation of the Polish Reading Room

Between 1903 and 1935, the Polish Reading Room was financed by the "ZGODA Polish Society in Zurich", the "Polish Society in Zurich" and the "National-Democratic Polish Youth Association" (also known as the "Academic Circle in Zurich"). In 1903, it was decided to move the reading room to the first floor of the building at 13 Auf der Mauer St. The adjoining rooms were occupied by the club premises of "ZGODA" and the educational rooms of the "People's University at ZGODA". In 1908, the building also provided space for a secret branch of the "Strzelce" Foreign Branch of the PPS Active Struggle Union.

Today, the premises are still used by the "ZGODA Society", which has given way to political activities for the protection and promotion of Polish heritage in Switzerland and education.