Polish Knives

Date of Creation: Unknown

Materials: Metal (unknown), Deer antler

Arrival in Dunedin: 1983

Description:

• Seven small knives with round handles made of deer antler
  • approx. 100mm [l] x 25mm [d]
• Cylindrical ‘cup’ of hollow deer antler to store the knives
  • approx 50mm [h] x 50mm [d]

Researcher: Stacey Fraser

History:

These knives belong to Alice and Marek, who escaped Soviet-controlled Poland in 1981 with their six-year-old daughter. They left Poland to avoid the repercussions of standing against the Communist system. Marek was involved in the first independent labour union in the USSR – The Independent Self-Governing Trade Union, “Solidarity.” Members of this union often ended up in jail or ‘disappeared’. Despite having a good job as a photographer, Alice agreed to leave Poland to protect her husband and her daughter. In 1981, the year Alice and Marek left, the Polish government violently repressed the “Solidarity” movement.

The family spent two years in an Austrian refugee camp before being accepted to New Zealand as political refugees. The St. Vincent de Paul organisation sponsored their passage to New Zealand, providing them with accommodation and jobs when they arrived in 1983. Alice and Marek are now retired and live in Timaru.

Significance:

These knives were given to Alice and Marek as a wedding present by a very special friend. The family left Poland on a ‘holiday’ and this knife set is the only item they took with them other than their clothes. Because of their sentimental value, Alice and Marek do not use the knives.