Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

In the years 1939–1945, the inhabitants of the Notecka Forest, one of the largest forest complexes in Poland, constituting the natural border with the German Reich for several hundred years, were forced to resist foreign oppressive systems. The German occupation threatened Poles with biological destruction, a drastic reduction in the number by displacement to the General Government and deportation to forced labor deep into the Reich, or at best transforming them into obedient, low-skilled wage workers. The communist system installed in Poland from mid-1944 meant the imposition of the dictatorship of the communist party, the further liquidation or marginalization of the former elites and the renunciation of sovereignty. In both cases, the population of the Notecka Forest, in a self-defense act, formed armed partisan units, administered justice on their own, made illegal provisions and tried to break the information blockade. Above all, however, she sought shelter and a sense of security in vast forests.