Exhibiton „Polish Underground State”

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On October 25th, 2010 at the Ossolinski National Institute in Wrocław (Tenement Under the Golden Sun, 6 Market Square) was held the opening of the exhibition „Polish Underground State”. It will be presented until November 30th. Its curator is Dr. Małgorzata Preisner-Stokłosa.

The exhibition initiates the activity of the Studies of Władysław and Zofia Bartoszewski and Jan and Jadwiga Nowak-Jeziorański.

The main goal of the exposition is to present the phenomenon of the structures of the Polish Underground State – the biggest organization of this type functioning during the Second World War. The exhibition presents a complete picture of the life of Poles during the Nazi occupation.

It is divided into sections: the circumstances of the creation of the Polish Underground State, its activity and structures, the Home Army, the Directorate of Civil Resistance, the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota”, underground press and publications, the Warsaw Uprising and the end of the war and official dissolution of the Polish Underground State structures.

474 exhibits collected in the Ossolineum are supposed to reveal to the visitors the scale of  the resistance encountered by the Nazis.

Among the presented exhibits are showpieces handed over by the legendary courier Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, authentic weapons, underground publications, photographs from the Warsaw Uprising, currency from the time of the occupation and a genuine insurrectionary radio station. Visitors will also be able to see documents connected with “Żegota”, handed over to the Ossolineum by Władysław Bartoszewski, honored by Yad Vashem with the  title “Righteous Among the Nations”.

More about the exhibition on the website of the Ossolinski National Institute.