Note that the cover title does not include the word "ershter".

A description, in Yiddish, of the first of the Polish expeditions to the arctic, specifically to Bear Island.

The Polish scientific exploration of the Arctic had started in the 19th century, long before Poland regained its independence in 1918. Several generations of Polish scientists — imprisoned by tzarist oppressors for their patriotic activities and deported to Siberia,especially after unsuccessful upsurges of 1830–31 and 1863, contributed enormously to geographical discoveries and pioneer biological and geological research in the Siberian Arctic and Subarctic. Earth scientists, Aleksander Czekanowski (1833–1876) and Jan Czerski (1845–1892), should be listed among the most famous ones. The Polish Antarctic tradition goes back to participation of Henryk Arctowski (1871–1958) and Antoni Boleslaw Dobrowolski (1872–1954) in the famous Belgian Expedition inBelgica to West Antarctica (1897–1899) led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery. H.Arctowski, a geophysicist and geologist, was in charge of the expedition's scientific program, A. B. Dobrowolski, then a university student, was first employed as a sailor, later – during wintering in Antarctica, turned meteorologist and specialist on snow and ice.

Four Polish expeditions were sent to Svalbard in the Arctic prior to the second World War. The first one was organized by J. Lugeon, director of the State Meteorological Institute in Warsaw, to Bear Island (Björnöya), in connection with the 2nd Polar Year (1932–1933). Its program included research in meteorology, geomagnetism, aurora borealis, solar radiation and radio noise. The expedition consisted of five men, three of whom, led by C. Centkiewicz,stayed for the wintering.