Księstwo Warszawskie w świadomości Polaków – świadectwo pamiętników

The paper discusses how the contemporaries evaluated the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. 59 diaries have been analysed with such prominent authors as Wirydianna Fiszer, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Kajetan Koźmian, Józef Wybicki, and Prot Lelewel. The less known memoirs have also been taken into account. They allow us to discover the principal stereotype of thinking about the state “given by Napoleon” as a continuation of the First Republic. The pages of memoirs inform us about the nostalgia for sovereignty. We also learn about the relationship to France and Napoleon I, nevertheless a more serious criticism of the emperor appeared only after the defeat of 1812.