The seven-minute, 32-second silent film is the only known private moving-image record of the ceremony, one of the most important public events in interwar Poland.
The footage was shot on 8 mm film on May 18, 1935, by Tadeusz Rowiński, a Kraków dentist and amateur filmmaker who later emigrated to the United States.
It shows crowds of mourners, parts of the funeral procession and leading figures of the Second Polish Republic, the Polish state between the restoration of independence in 1918 and the outbreak of World War II.
Among those visible are President Ignacy Mościcki and Gen. Edward Śmigły-Rydz, who is seen accompanying Piłsudski’s widow, Aleksandra Piłsudska.
Piłsudski, who died on May 12, 1935, was one of the central figures in modern Polish history.
He helped lead the struggle for independence after more than a century of partitions by neighboring empires, later served as Poland’s chief of state and was a key figure in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921.
His funeral lasted six days and drew millions of mourners. Kraków was the final stage of the ceremonies because Piłsudski was buried in the crypts of Wawel Castle's cathedral.
The National Digital Archives (NAC) said the film differs from official newsreel footage produced at the time by the Polish Telegraphic Agency because it was a private, amateur recording. That gives it particular historical value as an unarranged view of the funeral and of Kraków during a moment of national mourning.
The film was shot from two vantage points, a window on Wiślna Street and a building on Kraków’s Main Market Square.
NAC described the recording as the “first and only film document of this kind” in its collection.
Although Piłsudski’s funeral was extensively photographed no comparable private film record had been held in the state archives until now.
The reel recently appeared on the antiquarian market in an offer from the Kraków Auction House. After it was identified, the State Archives used their statutory right of first refusal, a legal mechanism allowing the state to acquire significant archival material before it can be sold elsewhere.
Conservation experts from the National Archives in Kraków assessed the film as being in good or very good condition, allowing it to be safely acquired and prepared for further work.
The version released on Monday is a technical preview. NAC plans to make a fully digitized version available.
(rt/gs)
Source: dzieje.pl