#pawiak

[gideonsexperiment]

Pawiak

[stillunusual]

Pawiak mistaken for the Warsaw Uprising Museum…. One of many examples of tourists in Poland apparently having no idea what they're taking pictures of….

This is actually a photo of the Pawiak Prison Museum.

Pawiak was a prison on Dzielna Street in Warsaw, which was built in 1835, when most of present day Poland was under Russian occupation. It was used to house Polish political prisoners and also as a transit camp for those awaiting deportation to Siberia. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, it became Warsaw's largest prison for male criminals.

Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Pawiak was taken over by the Gestapo and during the next five years over 100,000 inmates passed through its gates, mostly members of the Polish resistance, political prisoners and civilians taken as hostages during street round-ups (known as "łapanki"). An estimated 37,000 people were executed and 60,000 sent to German concentration camps. Exact numbers are unknown, as the prison's archives were never found.

Pawiak became a symbol of the brutality of the German occupation, and graffiti reading "Pawiak Pomścimy" ("we will avenge Pawiak") appeared on walls, notice boards and even on the pavements of Warsaw. The prison was enclosed within the Warsaw ghetto from 1940-43 and was later destroyed by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, but half of the mangled gateway (complete with original barbed wire) and three detention cells survive, along with memoirs of the horrors suffered by the inmates.

The adjacent prison for women - known as Serbia - was also destroyed.

During the post-war reconstruction of Warsaw, the city planners created a major new road - now called Aleja Jana Pawła II, but originally named after Polish communist Julian Baltazar Marchlewski - whose route passed through the site of the women's prison, which is now commemorated by a single plaque located on the opposite side of Aleja Jana Pawła II from the Pawiak Prison Museum.

The Warsaw Uprising Museum can be found on Grzybowska Street….

[zyciestolicy]

Dni Pamięci Pawiaka - od 6 października

Dni Pamięci Pawiaka – od 6 października

W Muzeum Więzienia Pawiak oraz Mauzoleum Walki i Męczeństwa w al. Szucha – oddziałach Muzeum Niepodległości (MN) w Warszawie – 6 października rozpoczną się trzydniowe obchody Dni Pamięci Pawiaka – poinformowała PAP Dorota Panowek z MN. Jak wyjaśniono, “w programie obchodów znajdą się: wykłady, programy historyczno-artystyczno-edukacyjne, kuratorskie zwiedzanie wystaw oraz uroczysty koncert w 100.…

View On WordPress

[alessandroberrettoni]

Un ridente birillo davanti alla #Pawiak, la vecchia prigione dei dissidenti politici a #Varsavia. #mrm #prl #picoftheday #photooftheday #poland #polska #warszawa #travel #igers

[museumofpawiakprison-blog]

Trails of Remembrance

The Museum of Pawiak Prison has been cooperating for the past few weeks with Phillipe Dietrichs (23), an intern from Berlin. Below is his report on the opening of our new exhibition entitled The Trails of Remembrance: 50 Years of the Museum of Pawiak Prison. 

Up to this day it was my second special exhibition in the Museum of Pawiak Prison. Even though it was the first time I really helped with the organization and construction of an exhibition. In the past week Robert, Paweł, and I have finished the positioning and construction of the exhibition frames. I have to be honest and say, that I’ve never thought that on the scenes behind such an exhibition the workload for preparing such an event would be so massive. But as I watched people going through the exhibition and reading through everything we’ve built up, it was an amazing experience.

As I walked in at 8.30 am on the day of the exhibition I was really nervous. How would the visitors like our arrangement of the frames? Was everything correctly positioned? These were some of the questions which ran through my head at that time. Robert and Małgosia are more experienced in these kind of things and were very calm. They told me everything would be fine. As soon as we started to put up the chairs for the lecture of the history of the museum from Joanna Gierczyńska (director of the museum), the last vestiges of nervousness fled from me. Another task I had was to take photos of the exhibition and during the presentation. It was the task I enjoyed and already had a little experience in.

The special exhibition about the history of the Museum of Pawiak Prison was well visited and every chair was taken. The director of the Independence Museum (Muzeum Niepodleglosci) Dr. Tadeusz Skoczek and the director of the Museum of Pawiak Prison Joanna Gierczyńska lead the opening of the exhibition. Both of them praised and presented persons and institutions which distinguished themselves in working very well together with the museum. Among those distinguished were Jan Jagielski and the Jewish Historical Institute for their long time association and working relationship with the Pawiak, which specialized in sharing information about former Pawiak prisoners. With this medal Joanna Gierczyńska and the director of the Independence Museum also wanted to thank the former co-workers of the museum for their longstanding engagement and work.

This exhibition revolved around the history of the Museum of Pawiak Prison and the end of the 1st anniversary of the 50 anniversary of the museum (built in 1965). Joanna Gierczyńska held a passionate lecture about the Pawiak, and pulled the audience in with her passion. To be honest, I haven’t really understood much of her lecture because my polish is best described as non-existent. Sometimes I find that really sad because a lot of things are lost in the translation to another language. But you didn’t have to understand her to see her passion about the subject. You could see it in her eyes, her body language, and her voice. It was an interesting experience.

At the end of her presentation she thanked her museum co-workers, and as I heard her mentioning my name and seeing all those people turning their eyes on me, my heart slipped into my pants. I thought I did something wrong and had big eyes. As they began to clap their hands I somehow knew she thanked us, and it was an awesome feeling to know these people appreciated the work you did.

It was an interesting and memorable experience and together with the work we did from the start a really nice project. Thank you Pawel, Małgosia, Robert, and Joanna for letting me experience such an awesome project.

[jaimsilva]

Warsaw, 2006

war memorials

[museumofpawiakprison-blog]

2016 Days of Remembrance for Pawiak

This Days of Remembrance are held from 5th to 9th of October. It is an annual event which always takes place at the beginning of October. The celebration is addressed to the former prisoners and their families, veterans, and residents of Warsaw. Furthermore, tt is also directed to the younger generation - junior high school and high school students, other schools cooperating with the Museum, and scouts. 

This year’s programme consists of museum lessons, meetings with the witnesses of history, lectures conducted by the well-known Warsaw historians, historical films and literary performances starring Warsaw artists.  

[museumofpawiakprison-blog]