Upon the invasion of Poland by Germany, some members of the government fled to England and set up a government-in-exile, hoping to resume power in Poland once the war was over. This government-in-exile was recognized by all the Allies, including the Soviet Union. However, the Soviet Union, which defeated the Germans in Poland and occupied the country, set up their own Polish government, which was eventually recognized by the remaining allies. The Polish government-in-exile carried on in London for another 45 years, though, and was recognized as the legitimate government of Poland by some countries, including Ireland and Spain, until as late as 1979.
My question: Did the government do much of anything between 1945 and 1990, other than lobby and propagandize for recognition as the legitimate Polish government? It couldn’t possibly have governed or otherwise affected the state of affairs in Poland, which is what a government is supposed to do. One thing I thought it might have been able to do is issue passports, though these would have been useless for travel to any countries which didn’t recognize the government-in-exile. Does anyone know if such passports were actually issued? Could a Polish citizen living abroad apply to the government-in-exile for a Polish passport, and then use it to travel to Ireland or Spain?