Law and Justice (PiS) MP Paweł Jabłoński has revealed a shocking response from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) regarding the restitution of the priceless manuscript Gaude, Mater Polonia. Instead of taking immediate and decisive action to recover the cultural treasure looted by the Germans, the ministry, headed by Marta Cienkowska, hides behind bureaucratic procedures and demands… “indisputable proof” that the artifact belongs to Poland.
Jabłoński’s post on platform X sparked a real storm. The politician published a letter he had received from Deputy Minister of Culture Maciej Wróbel in response to his parliamentary inquiry dated October 23, 2025. The issue concerns the rediscovered medieval manuscript Gaude, Mater Polonia, found at the end of 2023 in the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin). The manuscript bears the seals of the Seminary Library in Płock, from which it was stolen by the Germans in 1941.
“This is simply shocking – even by this government’s standards,” wrote Jabłoński. “The matter is obvious: German thieves stole our property – a priceless text of our culture – and they have a damn obligation to return it immediately,” he continued, unable to hide his outrage.
The Ministry Has “Doubts”
Meanwhile, the response from the Ministry of Culture under Donald Tusk’s government is far from the decisiveness the public would expect. Instead of a firm demand for the return of the looted artifact, the ministry led by Marta Cienkowska and her deputy Maciej Wróbel speaks of the need to carry out lengthy procedures.
In the letter signed by Deputy Minister Wróbel, we read:
“Only indisputable evidence in the form of confirmation of the object’s identity and unambiguous indication of its provenance allows for appropriate restitution actions to be taken in accordance with national and international law.”
MP Jabłoński bitterly commented on the ministry’s position:
“And you know what they just told me? THAT THEY HAVE DOUBTS. Seriously. Only when we find INDISPUTABLE PROOF that the manuscript of one of the oldest POLISH hymns, with the seals of a POLISH library, is truly the property of POLAND – only then will we humbly ask the Germans to return what they stole.”
A Priceless Heritage Awaits Its Return
Gaude, Mater Polonia (“Rejoice, Mother Poland”) is one of the oldest Polish hymns, composed in the 13th century by Wincenty of Kielcza.
The manuscript discovered in Berlin may be the oldest known copy of this composition, and its value to Polish culture is beyond estimation.
The discovery was made at the end of 2023 by historian Dr. Paweł Figurski, who had no doubts about the artifact’s origin. “The document bears the seals of the Seminary Library in Płock. These are the same pre-war seals that appear on all the Płock documents I have examined so far,” emphasized the researcher in an interview with the media.