Prior to the screening, Teofil Lachowicz, editor of the "Veteran" magazine, also in charge of the archives of the Polish Army Veterans' Association in America (SWAP), will talk about the history of the Association. Dr Jarosław Szarek, President of the IPN, Marzena Kruk, Director of the IPN Archive and Dr hab. Piotr Kardela, Director of the IPN Branch in Bialystok will also attend the event.
The film is a unique record of the visit to their Homeland made by volunteers from the American Polish community to the "Blue Army" of General Józef Haller, which was formed in France in 1917.
An unknown camera man, probably commissioned by the Polish Army Veterans' Association in America, recorded pictures of Polish cities and generals Józef Haller and Mariusz Zaruski, activists of the SWAP, among others Dr Teofil Starzyński and Agnieszka Wisła, as well as agility shows by soldiers of the 15th Cavalry Regiment and 7th Regiment of Riflemen at the Grunwald Fields in Poznan and the parade of the 13th Infantry Division in Równe in Volyhnia.
The original copy of the film was imported to Poland under a contract signed between the SWAP and the IPN Archive. The film's conservation and restoration was carried out at the Polish National Film Archive (FINA) with the cooperation of employees of the IPN.
The event in Vilnius is going to be the third screening of this film organized by the IPN. So far, this unique material has been shown in Warsaw and Gdynia.