FON Srebra Funduszu Obrony Narodowej

To commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, the National Museum in Poznań, in its branch of the Museum of Applied Arts, presents a silver treasure – a group of objects from the National Defence Fund. The FON, established by a decree of the President of the Republic of Poland on 9 April 1936, was intended to raise, by way of social contribution, additional funds for the rearmament of the army in the face of the threat to the existence of the state by Nazi Germany. Poles were extremely self-sacrificing in supplying it with both cash and valuable items. This testimony to the generosity of Poles in the face of the threat of war was a tremendous act of patriotism. The objects on display are kept in the museum's storeroom on a daily basis, so this commemorative display is a unique opportunity to see them. It is not only the quantity of donated valuables, such as thousands of marriage rings, but the quality of the silver tableware, watches, cigarette cases etc. that impresses. The background to the treasures on display are documents and photographs from the second half of the 1930s showing the scale of the undertaking and the enthusiasm of the nation. More than 80 years ago, Poles sacrificially donated cash and valuables to the National Defence Fund in order to raise additional funds by way of social contribution to rearm the army in the face of the threat from Nazi Germany.

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, unused material donations were taken abroad. At the Polish embassy in Bucharest, they were divided into a 'silver' and a 'gold' part. The 61 boxes of silver were taken from Romania to France, where they survived the Second World War, first in the vault of a branch of the Bank of France in Marseille, then in Castres, and after the war they were moved to Toulouse. "Silver" National Defence Fund was recovered by Poland in 1976. The collection was presented in 1977 at the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw and then at the Bureau of Artistic Exhibitions in Katowice, before being deposited at the National Museum in Poznań.

Between 1978 and 1988 a team of employees of the National Museum in Poznan inventoried more than 18,000 objects. For this reason, and in order to at least symbolically compensate for the losses in the collection during the war, by decision of the Treasurer of the Ministry of Culture and Art, the Museum received 1,840 objects which were entered into the inventories of the Museum of Applied Arts, the Wielkopolskie Military Museum, the Museum of the History of the City of Poznan and the Numismatic Cabinet.

The Museum of Applied Arts presents some of them in various rooms of the permanent exhibition, where table silver, cutlery, candlesticks, jewellery and watches contribute to the narrative of the exhibition. The objects that make up the current show, like those presented in previous years, are kept in the museum's storeroom on a daily basis, so these annual commemorative exhibitions are a unique opportunity to see them. And on future anniversaries we will prepare further presentations of objects from this patriotic collection.