Documentation from the Jagiellonian University Archives, Poland, 1939–1945: The Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (IDO—the Institute for German Labor in the East, "Ostinstitut")

Documentation from the Archives of the Jagiellonian University, Poland, 1939–1945: The Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (IDO—the Institute for German Labor in the East, "Ostinstitut") The Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit (IDO—the Institute for German Labor in the East, "Ostinstitut")—was established by Nazi Germany in Kraków in 1940 and operated until 1945. A research facility of anthropological and ethnographic nature, it was headquartered at the Collegium Maius. Its mission was to gather material about the ostensible German nature of the lands of Poland. Until 1945, it was headed by Dr. Wilhelm Koblitz. After the Germans shut down the Jagiellonian University, IDO took control of the resources of the Jagiellonian Library, which was renamed the Staatsbibliothek. The IDO had two departments, located in Warsaw and Lwów, and several research stations in the provinces as well. IDO was established per decision of the Governor, Hans Frank, on April 20, 1940, Adolf Hitler's birthday. Hans Frank installed himself as president of the institute and Wilhelm Koblitz was appointed its director. Plans were made to establish additional branches of the institute in locations other than Warsaw and Lwów. By definition, IDO was to serve as the core of a future German university like the Reichsuniversität Posen, which had been established in Poznan. Staff from German centers that dealt with East European matters in Berlin, Karlovice, Wroclaw, and Vienna took part in the IDO's work as a scientific base. IDO had branches that engaged in various fields of scientific research. Several of them, foremost the Race and Folklore Section (Sektion Rassen und Volkstumsforschung), headed by Austrian anthropologists, carried out field research projects. The most controversial of these projects related, inter alia, to the Tarnów ghetto. Studies were also carried out in Podhale, Sądecka region, in the vicinity of Nowy Sącz and Stary Sącz—German colonies that had been established in Poland in the 18th and 19th centuries—and in the Lemko villages. The research dealt with both economic policy and ethnic policy, distinguishing among ethnic groups and political mapping of a cross-section of the population by origin. IDO employed local experts in junior auxiliary positions; they were needed due to their linguistic and topical skills. The official information channel of the Institut für Deutsche Ostarbeit was the propaganda and education journal Die Burg. Before Red Army forces occupied Kraków, some of the Institut's collections and scientific documentation were evacuated to Bavaria. After the war, these materials were taken to the United States and placed in the Smithsonian Institution. In recent years, they were transferred to the archives of the Jagiellonian University. In the collection: files of the Academic Senate of the Jagiellonian University, 1849–1939; files of the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Law, 1849–1939; files of the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Medicine, 1849–1949; files of the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Philosophy, 1849–1949; list of files of the State Committee of Examinations for Teachers in Post-Primary Schools (KPEN), 1930–1954; list of students at the University of Kraków (Album Studiosorum Universitas Cracoviensis).