 Polish culture persisted in underground education , publications , even theater . The Polish Underground State created a Department of Education and Culture ( under Stanisław Lorentz ) which , along with a Department of Labor and Social Welfare ( under Jan Stanisław Jankowski and , later , Stefan Mateja ) and a Department for Elimination of the Effects of War ( under Antoni Olszewski and Bronisław Domosławski ) , became underground patrons of Polish culture . These Departments oversaw efforts to save from looting and destruction works of art in state and private collections ( most notably , the giant paintings by Jan Matejko that were concealed throughout the war ) . They compiled reports on looted and destroyed works and provided artists and scholars with means to continue their work and their publications and to support their families . Thus , they sponsored the underground publication ( bibuła ) of works by Winston Churchill and Arkady Fiedler and of 10 @,@ 000 copies of a Polish primary @-@ school primer and commissioned artists to create resistance artwork ( which was then disseminated by Operation N and like activities ) . Also occasionally sponsored were secret art exhibitions , theater performances and concerts . 
