Curated by the Warsaw branch of the Institute of National Remembrance, the exhibition will open at the Strzelecka 8 Memorial Hall on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, with the ceremony set for 5 PM.
Tomasz Łabuszewski, director of the Warsaw branch, explains to PAP that the exhibit will unveil the tragic stories of eight Uprising fighters who, in 1945, were persecuted by communist security forces and imprisoned at the detention center in the Provincial Office of Public Security's initial headquarters.
Brutal Repressions
"This was the place where decisions were made about whether those detained would be deported to labor camps or sent to the penal-investigative prison at 11 Listopada Street, and subsequently to other security ministry prisons," said to PAP Łabuszewski.
He underscores the brutal treatment endured by the detainees at Strzelecka 8, noting, "They were subjected to torture and harsh interrogations.
The most heartbreaking part of this story is that nearly all of these individuals had no connection to the anti-communist underground. Their only 'offense' was serving in the independence movement, particularly the Home Army, and participating in the Warsaw Uprising."
In ruined Warsaw the statue of Christ carrying a Cross miraculously remained untouched (Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe/Public Domain)
From uprising to repression
The Warsaw Uprising was the largest military campaign conducted by the Home Army against the German occupiers during World War II. For 63 days, the poorly equipped AK forces fought a solitary battle against superior enemy troops. On September 14, 1944, the Red Army and its allied units from the People's Army of Poland advanced into Warsaw's Praga district.
It was in this district, within the building at 8 Strzelecka Street, that the detention center of the Provincial Office of Public Security operated from 1945 to 1948. Those incarcerated there included members of the Polish independence movement, such as the Warsaw Uprising fighters.
The above archival footage from the Warsaw Uprising Museum's collection is the world's first feature film, edited entirely from documentary materials in 2013. It tells the story of the titular event through the experiences of two young reporters who witnessed the battles of the uprising in August 1944.
Source: IAR/PAP/IPN/The Warsaw Uprising Museum
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