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Valuable find in a bottle
Very valuable document from 1939 has been found in a small village Kurozwęki. It is believed that it is an act of capitulation of the Modlin Fortress.
The document has been found in a bottle which was buried on a private possession belonging to Antoni Kijanka who was a soldier during the war.
The document was given to Kijanka who was 13 years old boy, by a colonel who was defending the fortress. He asked him to hide the document in a safe place. Young Antoni rolled the paper, put it into a bottle and buried in his own garden. After 70 years, the bottle was found and the document went to the Museum of Polish Army.
“The document is in very bad condition so it is impossible to read it properly. What is more cannot separate all pages because of dampness and its influence on the paper. The document will be tested by the laboratory of the National Library and then we may decide about its future. All I can say is that the paper is very brittle so we cannot separate the pages and read them. If it is not possible to renovate it we will put to the museum and wait for new technologies that help us to discover the secret of this treasure” – explained Joanna Ważyńska form the National Library.
The Modlin Fortress which was built by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807-1812 is one of most famous fortress in Poland. During World War II Modlin was in a state of siege and capitulated after 29 days.
