The three showcases are available for viewing in the capital Warsaw, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
'No statute of limitations'
As he opened the exhibitions, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński told the media: “This war meant an assault from two sides. It meant losses and casualties inflicted by the German invaders and the Soviet invaders.”
Gliński, who is also Poland’s culture minister, said: “It is our duty to pay tribute to the victims.”
He added: “Yet it is also our duty to educate for posterity - that is why we are creating institutions of remembrance, that is why we are meeting here today, that is why we have been reminiscing about those times since this morning."
Gliński told reporters that "there can be no statute of limitations on the crimes, unpunished suffering and inhumane events that somebody provoked and for which today they must pay.”
Three exhibitions about World War II
One of the new exhibitions, entitled War, features photographs from the 1939 Nazi German invasion of Poland and the subsequent occupation years.
The second part of the showcase, to be launched on September 17, will focus on the Soviet assault and occupation of Poland, officials said.
The open-air exhibition is within the grounds of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Meanwhile, another show, entitled Conflagration, brings together work by three Polish artists who were deeply affected by World War II: painter Jonasz Stern, sculptor and graphic designer Alina Szapocznikow, and painter and sculptor Władysław Hasior.
The exhibition is being held at Warsaw’s Kordegarda gallery, state news agency PAP reported.
Finally, the third exhibition, entitled Young Eagles: Grodno ‘39, features photographs from a forthcoming movie of the same name.
The film, which is set to premiere on September 9, tells the story of young people who rushed to the defence of the then-Polish city of Grodno (now in Belarus) amid the Soviet invasion.
The open-air show is in front of Warsaw's Kordegarda Gallery, the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP