Alois and Sophie Visit Poland

Photo: GR

Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie were on an official visit to Poland today. In Warsaw, they were received by President Andrzej Duda and his wife Aganta Kornhauser-Duda as well as Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski. In addition to the bilateral ties between Poland and Liechtenstein, topics such as Brexit, the future of Europe and immigration policies were discussed during the official talks. The occasion of the visit to Poland was the repatriation of the archives of the Princely Family and the city of Gdansk.

Photo: GD

The story behind it goes as following: In 1944, Soviet soldiers took parts of the house archives of the Princely Family from Burg Liechtenstein in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, and brought them to Moscow. For decades, the documents were thought to be lost. In 1993, some were found again in the archives of the Russian capital and given back to the Princely Family. The delivery to Liechtenstein, however, didn't alone include material from the house archives but also from the archives of the city of Gdansk, that had also been brought to Moscow prior. In turn, some parts of the Liechtenstein archives were already brought to Gdansk in 1958. Whyever the mix-up? No idea, but everything is back in the hands of their original owners now. The material the Princely Family received back to day include bills of sale, documents on legal matters, contracts, inventories, bills and protocolls as well as genealogical tables dating from the 16th to 19th century.