Heros of the Warsaw

by Maria Gasecka (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown Poland

In Warsaw, more thought is given to the World War II as well as its victims and heroes, than in other cities. This happens thanks to the citizens of today's Warsaw who have not forgotten the victims of the Warsaw Uprising to whom they pay their respects every summer. On the 1st of August, at the so called "W" hour, Warsaw freezes. At 5.00 PM sharp, sirens wail in every district, cars stop and pedestrians stand to attention wherever they are, while shopkeeprs come out into the streets. Everyone pays their respects to those who were killed as they fought for the independence of their country as they had dreamed about Warsaw becoming free and sacrificed their lives for it. Since 2004, the Warsaw Uprising Museum has been the heart of the Warsaw Uprising's memory. The permanent exhibition at the Warsaw Uprising Museum takes its visitors to the time of noise and chaos. After it, I was tired of darkness and noise, which help the visitors experience the atmosphere of the events in 1944. The uprising's participants' mementoes, traditional form of providing information and modern technology in the form of multimedia shows, as well as light and sound effects are intertwined very skilfully in the exhibition. The idea of the exhibition is to the visitor to a city, which no longer exists today. Some of it is constituted by the underground and some by tunnels, which lead from one event to another, from one day to another, from one dark place to another. The mood which is dominant there gives you an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the old days in Warsaw. Like every exhibition focused on a historic event, the Warsaw Uprising Museum's permanent exhibition presents plenty of dates, historic facts and uprising leaders. When you explore the exhibition, you have a chance to get to know the people of Warsaw, the civilians who became soldiers: men, women, teenagers and children. We find out how they acted. We also find out where they died. We get to know young people whose parents were left alone, as they died. We get to know people who lost their grandparents, parents, siblings or children. We get to know people who were robbed of everything – gold, works of art, china, furniture, flats or sense of security. We can understand their hunger, through the lists of food products which were at the uprising's participants disposal. We can feel the their fear and longing, thanks to the original letters which they wrote to the people they loved and worried about. In their letters, they informed their loved ones that they were still alive. Contrary to many historic exhibitions, the Warsaw Uprising's permanent exhibition does not present uniforms. There are just a few of Polish officers' uniforms. The insurgents fought in their civilian clothes – men wore their jackets and women wore their dresses which do not need to be presented. The exhibition does not present Nazi uniforms – it does not pay respects to them. There is no room for the invader there. This does not mean that a person who expects military items will be disappointed. The permanent exhibition involves small arms and rifles. There is a military plane in the building. As you explore the exhibition, you go around the building's inside as if it were a non-existent city. A few corridors from the abovementioned animations, there is a cinema where you can watch video footage which was made during the uprising. Though there crowds walking behind your back, it is impossible to get your eyes off the film or stop listening to the reader. I am close to the exhibition's end. As you walk around the non-existent city, you cannot miss a long line of visitors. Though it may discourage you, it is worth the wait. In another screening room, you can see the bird's eye view of the destroyed Warsaw. These are ruins, not a city. The image of the bombarded Warsaw will not allow you to leave the exhibition without spending a moment in thought. After seeing the archive video footage, it is impossible not to notice that Warsaw ceased to exist in 1944.