The Warsaw Uprising, although it did not end with the victory of the insurgents, was the most important point of reference for all Poles who loved freedom and were ready to fight against the communist system, said the president of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr. Karol Nawrocki, during the opening of the exhibition "From Hell to Hell".
The vernissage took place on 31st of July 2024, on the eve of the main celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, in the Memorial Room at Strzelecka 8 in Warsaw. The exhibition is dedicated to the participants of the Warsaw Uprising who experienced communist repression after its end.
As the president of the Institute of National Remembrance pointed out, the Warsaw Uprising was the largest national uprising in German-occupied Europe during World War II.
- The Warsaw Uprising was proof that Poles are a nation ready to fight for the values most important to us, even in the face of overwhelming enemy forces. A nation ready to take up the fight in such a dramatic geopolitical situation, in which, on the one hand, the German occupier is still on Polish soil, and on the other - the new Soviet occupier is coming not to liberate Poland and Warsaw, but to enslave it again. (…) The Warsaw Uprising is one of the most important events shaping Polish national identity and our national memory of the 20th century.
The President of the Institute of National Remembrance also emphasized the context of the place where the exhibition is presented.
– Strzelecka 8 – today the Memorial Room, and after 1945 the NKVD torture chamber, proves that Poland had two enemies during World War II. On the one hand, it was Germany, which occupied Poland from September 1939, and on the other, the Soviet Union, which after the outbreak of World War II, in the name of the agreement between Hitler and Stalin, committed the crime of genocide against Poles, and in 1945 created torture chambers such as the NKVD torture chamber on Strzelecka Street.
He drew attention to two figures that were presented in this exhibition. On the one hand, it is Leon Mirecki, a man associated with nationalist circles in the Second Polish Republic. Apart from Leon Mirecki, Stefan Zbrożyna was also a Warsaw Uprising insurgent and a prisoner of Strzelecka. A social activist, a patriot, a leftist.
- These two figures want to tell us today that when the enemy - whether German or Soviet - looks at the Republic of Poland, it does not distinguish between political and ideological colors. It cuts Poles evenly with cruelty - both here on Strzelecka and in the Warsaw Uprising. This message of these two prisoners on Strzelecka also says that in the care for the Republic of Poland there is a place for all those who love Poland, regardless of their views.
The grand opening of the exhibition ended with the concert "Warszawo ma" performed by the band Pseudonim, whose repertoire includes original compositions dedicated to the Unbroken Soldiers in a mix of rock, jazz, and blues styles.
The Warsaw Uprising was the largest military operation carried out during World War II by the underground organization – the Home Army – against the German occupation forces. For 63 days, poorly armed insurgent units of the Home Army fought a lonely battle against the overwhelming forces of the enemy. On 14 of September 1944, the Red Army and subordinate units of the Polish People's Army entered the Praga district of Warsaw.
It was in this district that the communist Ministry of Security located its facilities in the surviving buildings.
In the tenement house at 8 Strzelecka Street, the detention center of the Provincial Office of Public Security in Warsaw operated between 1945 and 1948. In the basement of this tenement house, 25 cells were created, including three solitary confinement cells. Among the representatives of the Polish independence underground imprisoned there were also Warsaw Insurgents.
The figures of Insurgents, women and men, representatives of various professions and political trends, were presented on 6 boards.
All of these people experienced the hell of the Uprising first, and then the hell of the Provincial Public Security Office detention center at ul. Strzelecka 8. Many of them, after receiving their sentences, served their sentences in the Central Prison of the Ministry of Public Security Warsaw I at ul. Rakowiecka 37, in the Criminal-Investigative Prison of the MBP Warsaw III at ul. 11 Listopada 66, known as "Toledo", in Rawicz, Strzelce Opolskie or in Wronki, as well as in the Special NKVD Camp No. 10 in Rembertów.
source: Institute of National Remembrance
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