
Your visit
OPENING HOURS:
Mon: 08.00-18.00
Tue: closed
Wed, Thu, Fri: 08.00-18.00
Sat, Sun: 10.00-18.00
Address:
Grzybowska 79
Warsaw 00-844
Poland
Comparative Questions
What narrative is offered to the visitors?
The exhibition depicts fighting and everyday life during the Rising, keeping occupation terror in the background. The exhibitions, besides events of the Rising, show the development of the war, what exactly led to the Rising and the aftermath of it and also the post-war Communist regime in Poland and the fate of the Insurgents during those years.
The main point of the narrative is that the people who were willing to fight and give up their lives for their and the future generations’ freedom should be celebrated and remembered. It is emphasised that none of those terrible crimes and events should happen again and the main way for not letting it happen is the memory. The exhibitions clearly showed who was the agressor – Germans (that word is mostly used, not ‘Nazis‘), the Third Reich and later the Communist Russia and who is the victim – people of Poland, especially Warsaw. The women’s role is also greatly emphasised. In a lot of war museums the topic of women soldiers and their different roles are frequently brushed over. There is an exhibition called ‘The Heroines’ Journey. The Women’s Rising’ focusing only on women.
In Poland there is a discussion whether the Warsaw Rising was needed or not. It stirs up extreme emotions, from criticism to glorification. The Museum acknowledges that but does not take either of the sides, rather it puts emphasis on the memory and commemoration of the heroes.
Is there a person or a group, the narrative is centred around?
The Narrative mainly revolves around the people of Warsaw, that includes: men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, heroes and military leaders etc. Obviously the main focus is given to the Insurgents but again that group is also very broad. Every group has its own place where it is commemorated. There is a Little Insurgent Room that focuses on the children and where lessons for kids take place. There is a room that focuses on the pilots, also those of the allied forces, there is even a room ‘Germans’ showing the Warsaw Rising through the eyes of people against whom the Insurgents were rising. There are sections dedicated to Jews of Poland, mail carriers, radio operators, doctors and nurses and many more. There is an exhibition that focuses only on women of the Rising. The Warsaw Rising Museum shows every group of people of Warsaw, their roles in August and September of 1944 and their lives before, during and after the Rising.
Are pictures or images important in the construction of the museum narrative?
The photographs as well as videos are a major part of the exhibitions in the Warsaw Rising Museum. They are practically everywhere all over the Museum as well as on the outside. The images focus mainly on people of Warsaw during the rising, as well as their lives before and after it. It is no surprise as the Rising was very well documented by photographers and videographers. One of the most well known photographers was Eugeniusz Lokajski ,,Brok”, who took over one thousand photos depicting the crimes carried out during the Rising. There are over 13 thousand archival photographs in the online collection (https://www.1944.pl/en/photo-library.html) and approximately two thousand photographs in the on-site exhibitions.
One of the exhibitions is Kino Palladium that shows a continuous stream of original video footage taken by insurgent filmographers. That same footage used to actually be shown in Warsaw’s Palladium cinema during the rising. There is also a large screen in another section of the Museum that shows newsreels from the rising. Another place where visitors can watch a video is an exhibition ‘City of Ruins’ which is a short 3D video that shows a reconstructed view from the air on Warsaw ruins in 1945.
The photographs focus on the people. I believe it is important for the Museum to show that those were real, normal people who, despite all their troubles, smiled, got married and lived their lives. It makes the Museum’s narrative work as we as visitors feel closer to those people when we see their faces and what they went through. The exhibition ‘Reflection. I am like you, I daresay’ creates that feeling of closeness. A visitor has to stand in front of the mirror that analyses their features and finds their Insurgent lookalike.
The photographs are supposed to evoke certain feelings in visitors. They make them emotional, they make them feel empathetic and push them to understand what happened and why it should never happen again – that is a statement that the Museum puts big emphasis on. The images are a crucial part of the exhibitions and the whole set up of the Warsaw Rising Museum, anywhere the visitor goes there is an Insurgent looking at them.
Are there objects, documents or testimonies?
Whole Warsaw Rising Museum seems to be a huge testimony of the war, the crimes and the fight for freedom. The building was not chosen by chance. In the early 1900s it used to be a Tram Power Station. It is also one of rare original examples of industrial architecture from that time. During the Warsaw Rising the ‘hard front line’, as it is called, used to be near the building. For a short amount of time Polish soldiers stationed there and pushed away the enemy, later Germans destroyed parts of the building.
The Museum underlines the fact that the exhibitions are composed mainly of memorabilia, archives and reports. They had been gathered since 1981 in the Historical Museum of Warsaw (now Museum of Warsaw) in hopes that they would be once exposed in a worthy place. The collection is still growing as the Museum encourages people to give memorabilia connected to the history of the Warsaw Rising, occupied Warsaw, pre-war Warsaw, conspiratorial activity of Armia Krajowa (Home Army) and the fortunes of Insurgents during the Rising and later in captivity camps.
There are over one thousand exhibits in the collection of the Museum, most of which were collected from Insurgents’ descendants. Apart from obvious photographs, there are also documents of the people of Warsaw – work documents, occupational IDs etc. There is a wall of Insurgents’ white and red bands that were worn on arms, some of them have traces of blood or even holes from bullets – the same case is with clothes and uniforms. There is an exhibition with rifles and different sorts of weapons used during the fights, there’s one that imitates an insurgent hospital with very limited medications used then. In the room dedicated to the pilots there is a replica of the plane Liberator B-24J made in scale 1:1. All in all, there are a lot of memorabilia that are just simple belongings of the Insurgents, such as a medallion, a figurine of Saint Mary, books, their clothes and many more stuff that most of us have now. It makes the visitor feel closer to the Insurgents. There are also replicas of Insurgent graves that were made fast during the Rising, they look and feel very real.
Reports are also a very important part of the exhibitions. The Museum has talked with approximately 3 thousand Insurgents living today or those who recently passed. It is very important for the Museum to solidify their memories of the time. There is Spoken History Archive online where everyone can see and listen to Insurgents’ memories (https://www.1944.pl/archiwum-historii-mowionej.html). In front of the entrance there are five telephones with Insurgents’ pictures above them. In each telephone the visitors can listen to a certain Insurgent telling their stories and memories of the Rising. The voices of the Insurgents can be heard all over the Museum as there are places in different exhibitions set up where the Insurgent tells their report. It shows how recent those events actually are as we can see how many people who lived through them are still alive today.
What kind of knowledge is imparted?
The Museum is a tribute of Warsaw’s residents to those who fought and died for independent Poland and its free capital and it is clearly visible through the exhibition. The historical information that is given to the visitors is accessible and easy to understand even if someone only has very basic knowledge of the events. The events that led to World War II are shortly described as is the timeline of the war. The life of all sorts of groups in occupied Warsaw is shown and described, for example the life of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Pictures of Warsaw before the war are also shown. Complexity of the international situation at the time of the Rising is portrayed, including the post-war years of the Communist regime and the fate of Insurgents in the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). Visitors are guided through the subsequent stages of the Rising until the time when the Insurgents left Warsaw. Their further fate is also portrayed. The knowledge that is given to the visitors is very broad and given to them in all sorts of ways. There are a lot of interactive exhibits, for example an interactive map of the Warsaw Rising, the telephones with Insurgents’ voices and the rifles that they can touch and many more. Everyone, whether Polish or not, will learn something new in the Museum. The knowledge that is given is obviously mainly historical but it also focuses on social situations of different groups.
Further Questions
Is there a person or group that the museum addresses?
The Warsaw Rising Museum aims at a wide audience varying in gender, age and nationality. It has a special room for children to learn about kids that lived during the war, where educational workshops are held. The Museum also invites kids from all levels of education for lessons. It also encourages the older generation, especially the one that remembers the events of the war to come visit. Visitors can get a tour guide or an audio guide in a lot of sets of languages and the descriptions on site are written both in Polish and English.
What approach to war does the museum present?
Shortly, the Warsaw Rising Museum shows that it is important to remember the people who were willing to sacrifice everything to fight for their homeland and freedom but also makes the visitors ponder how such terrible things take place, how could a person do it to another person. The Museum takes the approach to show how we, as people, should never let a war like that, crimes like that happen ever again.
What kind of experience is offered?
The Warsaw Rising Museum offers an interactive experience. It is one of a kind, dare I say. The multimedia exhibition reflects the atmosphere of the Rising, shows not only the military history of the 63 days of fighting and the everyday life of the civilian population, but also describes the post-war communist terror. Visitors walk along the granite pavement among the rubble of the destroyed capital – it is made to look like it used to back then. They listen to the stories of the insurgents and see original exhibits from the Rising. There is a replica of the sewers that the soldiers have to move through. It is made so that the visitors can understand what the people felt walking through them. Sounds are very important in the Warsaw Rising Museum, walking through the exhibitions the visitors will hear the sounds of occupied Warsaw, they also have a chance to hear war songs. At the heart of the museum is a steel monument that passes through all the floors of the building. Its walls are covered with the dates of each day of the uprising as well as bullet marks, and the sound of a beating heart that symbolises the life of Warsaw in 1944 comes from inside.
The exhibitions, the views accompanied by the sounds create a very emotional experience. The Museum is quite touching and it is supposed to evoke certain feelings in the visitors such as empathy but also sadness. The goal of the Museum is to show the visitors how awful the events of World War II were and reflect upon them and think how we should never let it happen again. The exhibitions take the visitors back in time, making them feel as if they actually were in 1944 Warsaw, making them feel closer to the Insurgents as well. The visit in that museum is filled with nostalgia and contemplation.
The exhibition follows the timeline of historic events and the Museum’s idea to help people understand it better were collectible calendar cards. The card with a day-by-day description of the Uprising timeline can be collected on all floors. They start a few days before the Rising and end a few days after the fall. They can be collected and taken home by the visitors.
What objects represent war in the exhibition?
War is represented by all sorts of exhibits in the Warsaw Rising Museum. Visitors can see a replica of a bomber plane, military vehicles and rifles. Those are the typical representations of war but the Museum also shows the rubbles, the destroyed city, the graves of soldiers, blood-stained clothes with holes from bullets and many more that represent the violent crimes.