In September 1939, the building of the Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi was at the centre of events decisive for the continuity of the Polish State. In the night of 17/18 September 1939, the representatives of the highest state authorities, led by President Ignacy Moscicki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly, left the territory of the Republic of Poland and found themselves in Chernivtsi at dawn on 18 September 1939. The evacuation route of the gold of the Polish Bank also passed through the city.

The Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi was initially located in the private flat of Dr. Stanislav Kwiatkowski. In the 1920s, the post rented offices in a tenement house at today's 6 Lermontov Street. Later, the Consulate moved to a villa away from the city centre, located near the residence of the Metropolitan of Bukovina (today 12 Josef Hlávka Street). It is noteworthy that it was here, in 1933, that the young Foreign Ministry official Jan Kozielewski (Jan Karski) had his first internship abroad. Both buildings have survived to the present day.

The seat of the Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi

Another change of the seat, to a much more representative one, took place just three months before the outbreak of war. In June 1939. The Consulate occupied a magnificent palace at 14 Armenian Street, only a few steps away from Panska Street (the most representative street of the city, now Olhi Kobylanska Street) and the Armenian-Catholic Church. Here it functioned for one year until the Soviets occupied Bukovina in June 1940.

Unfortunately, little is known about the earlier history of this building, which witnessed the tragic events of September 1939. Judging by the architecture, it was probably built in the early 20th century. The palace, although in need of extensive renovation, has been preserved in relatively good condition. In its interiors (the former salons of the Consulate), one can see antique woodwork and stained glass in the windows. On the courtyard side, the original glazed veranda has also been preserved. It currently houses the medical library.

The Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi in the Interwar Period

Chernivtsi, the capital of the Bukowina, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the First World War, but was already part of Romania from 1918. At that time, the city had a large and well-organised Polish community. Even from Austrian times, there were schools with Polish as the language of instruction and a number of social and cultural organisations. Undoubtedly, the proximity to the Polish border (only 30 km separated Chernivtsi from the border crossing at Sniatyn) had a positive effect on the maintenance of national consciousness among the Chernivtsi Poles in the interwar period.

In the spring of 1919, thousands of civilian refugees and General Zeligowski's 4th Rifle Division were passing through the Bukowina. Therefore, the need arose to establish a Polish consular representation in Chernivtsi. The first honorary consul was the well-known Chernivtsi physician and Polish national activist, Dr. Stanislaw Kwiatkowski. In the summer of 1920. The Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi became a fully-fledged outpost of the Polish foreign service and functioned in this form for the next 20 years.

In the interwar period, the Consulate was active in various fields. By far the most attention was devoted to the Poles living in Bukovina. It made sure that the Romanian authorities respected the right of the Polish minority to their own education, created scouting teams or reconciled feuding Polish organisations. An important part of the Consulate's work was also the observation of the situation in the Romanian-Polish borderland, above all the German and Ukrainian nationalist circles hostile to Poland and influential in Bukovina.

Evacuation of the gold of the Bank of Poland and the supreme authorities of the Second Republic

Faced with the imminent threat to Warsaw from the Germans, the evacuation of several tens of tonnes of gold of the Bank of Poland began on 4 September 1939. After numerous adventures, the national treasury luckily reached the border railway station in Sniatyn after a few days.

The Deputy Treasury Minister Adam Koc, who was responsible for the evacuation of the gold, arrived at the Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi on 12 September. He gave instructions to Consul Tadeusz Buynowski, who, in cooperation with the Romanians, organised the passage of a special train across the border. Happily, the transport left Polish territory on the night of 13/14 September and, under armed Romanian escort, reached the port of Constanta without hindrance, where the gold of the Polish Bank was loaded onto a ship and sailed for Turkey.

A few days later, the USSR's tragic aggression against Poland took place, which dashed all hopes of continuing the fight against the Germans based on the Carpathian Mountains and the Romanian and Hungarian borders. Gathered in Kuty and the surrounding villages, representatives of the highest state authorities, led by President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, crossed the border bridge over the Čeremosh River on the night of 17/18 September. They were also accompanied by crowds of soldiers and civilian refugees. The Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi faced a huge challenge - first of all, the conditions for the reception of the highest state authorities of the Republic of Poland had to be agreed with the Romanians, and thousands of refugees had to be provided with a roof over their heads and food, and an exchange of money at a fair rate and appropriate documents had to be organised for them.

At dawn on 18 September, the leadership of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (without Minister Józef Beck, who was elsewhere at the time) gathered at the Consulate. Crowds of Poles camped in front of the building. President Moscicki and Marshal Rydz-Śmigły, meanwhile, were received at the headquarters of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Bukovina (currently the seat of the University of Chernivtsi), after which they quickly left for Romania.

Thanks to the enormous efforts of the Consulate staff, the refugees were given considerable assistance. A huge contribution to this was made by the inhabitants of Chernivtsi - mainly Poles, but also Romanians, Ukrainians, Jews and even local Germans, who shared their food and welcomed the refugees into their homes. Unfortunately, due to pressure from the Germans and the lack of an agreement in advance on the passage of the chief state authorities through Romanian territory, the government and the generals were interned.

The Polish Consulate in Chernivtsi still functioned officially for more than a year. Until June 1940, it provided assistance to illegal refugees from Soviet-occupied Polish lands. A clandestine outpost of Polish intelligence also functioned within its walls. After the Soviet aggression against Bukovina, the Consulate was evacuated to Suceava, where it continued to operate until the autumn of 1940, i.e. until the liquidation of all Polish consular representations in Romania.