700-year-old papal letters, found by GI, to be returned to Poland

[Jim O]

700-year-old papal letters, found by GI, to be returned to Poland

By Dinesh Ramde
Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - A collection of letters written by popes and kings some 700 years ago will be returned to Poland's national archives after a man in Milwaukee found them among the belongings of his father, a World War II veteran.

The letters, some of which were displayed at a news conference Thursday, are remarkably preserved, the gracefully flowing letters still legible on the vellum, or animal skin, on which they were written.

The 17 letters date back as far as 1256 and primarily record real-estate transactions, said Dr. Wanda Zemler-Cizewski, the Marquette University theology professor who authenticated them in 2003.

The documents were recovered during World War II by George G. Gavin, a Milwaukee native serving in the 347th Corps of Engineers in Company C, according to Ewa Barczyk, director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee...

Full article: 700-year-old papal letters, found by GI, to be returned to Poland