Held in Warsaw’s Piłsudskiego Square, the showcase is entitled Warsaw and Mariupol: Cities of Ruins, Cities of Struggle, Cities of Hope, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The photos on display show the destruction of Warsaw during World War II and the plight of Ukraine's Mariupol, Bucha and Borodyanka during Russia’s ongoing invasion.
'How similar are those photographs?'
As he opened the exhibition, Polish President Andrzej Duda said: “How similar are those photographs? How identical is the bestiality of those who kill, demolish and destroy the lives of innocent people?”
Duda added: “These photographs are disturbing, some of them very much so, but they reflect the disturbing reality of Warsaw during World War II, especially during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, when fighting was under way here and when the Germans were ruthlessly killing civilian residents in the Polish capital.”
He reflected: “And sadly today’s Russian invasion of Ukraine is similarly ruthless.”
Duda thanked Poles for helping Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion.
He vowed that those responsible for civilian massacres “must be held to account," adding that "it’s a duty for the civilised world.”
Warning to future generations
“It’s important to show the past and present as they are,” Duda also said. “They should serve as a warning to young people and to future generations.”
Meanwhile, Polish deputy lower-house Speaker Małgorzata Gosiewska told reporters that the exhibition was intended to "move the hearts of the people of Warsaw."
She added that the photographs proved that German totalitarianism and Russian imperialism “are similarly evil.”
The showcase in the Polish capital was unveiled on the 78th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
Monday was also day 159 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, wpolityce.pl