"Warsaw. Phoenix from the ashes" is the name of the exhibition that will be open for public in Hiroshima from 16 November 2023. It tells the story of the capital of Poland under German occupation, during Warsaw Rising and after WW2 when it was being brought back to life. The Exhibition was organized by the Warsaw Rising Museum and The Adam Mickiewicz Institute in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Tokio and Municipal Authorities of Hiroshima.
"Warsaw. Phoenix from the ashes" is the name of the exhibition that will be open for public in Hiroshima from 16 November 2023. It tells the story of the capital of Poland under German occupation, during Warsaw Rising and after WW2 when it was being brought back to life. The Exhibition was organized by the Warsaw Rising Museum and The Adam Mickiewicz Institute in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Tokio and Municipal Authorities of Hiroshima.
The Japanease visitors will have a chance to see an exceptional exhibition that tells the story about Warsaw in the 20th century with particular interest in the WW2 period, the Warsaw Rising and the phenomenon of the afterwar reconstruction. There is no coincidence that the exhibition will be presented in the very building of the Bank of Japan that was one of the few buildings that survived the annihilation of Hiroshima due to atomic bomb almost 80 years ago.
'The exhibition shows Warsaw as a beautiful and modern city that paid terrible prize for freedom as it was being destroyed four times during WW2. However, it was brought back to life just as phoenix from ashes and now it is a dynamic metropolis and the capital city of free Poland. The exhibition in Hiroshima, the city that also survived its death, is truly symbolic. The afterwar reconstruction of both cities due to huge social involvement is a remarkable message of hope for the future', said Jan Ołdakowski, Director of the Warsaw Rising Museum.
The convergence of the fates of both cities that were destroyed due to war and rebuilt by their inhabitants afterwards make the exhibition supra-regional. Barbara Schabowska, PhD, Director of Adam Mickieiwcz Institute underlines:
'The story of the Warsaw Rising is inseparably linked to a timeless warning about the consequences of the war. When visiting the exhibition and watching the films about the Rising, we will face the images of total desolation. However, an obliterated city is just an element of the image of the war. Civilians who perished in the ruins – these were hundreds of thousands of beating hearts that were silenced in Warsaw for ever'.
The exhibition consists of 70 boards, 3 showcases with exibits, 2 multimedia kiosks. There will be also screening of films that show the fate of Warsaw, the city that experienced the cruelty of the Nazi orchestrated extermination. First, the visitors will immerse themselves into a pre-war Warsaw, the city that was blooming with rich cultural and entertainment events. The following parts of the exhibition will show Warsaw under occupation in WW2, namely German policy towards Jews and Poles, terror in the streets and daily life in extremely unfavourable conditions. Warsaw is presented as the capital city of the Polish Underground State with its structures, administration, media, education, “Żegota” Committee to Save Jews, army and the Home Army secret operations.
In the end, the visitors will be able to see the story of the Rising in its complexity. It will be possible to listen to the testimonies where the participants of the Rising share their experiences. Among the exhibits, the viewers will have a chance to see an armband of a participant of the Rising, a mailbox as well as important documents such as the ID card of general Tadeusz Komorowski aka Bór. This part of the exhibition ends with a powerful screening of a film entitled “City of ruins” which shows Warsaw in 1945, the city that was torn down to foundations. The last part of the exhibition concentrates on Warsaw that was brought back to life as it was being rebuilt with the huge effort of the whole Polish nation to become a modern metropolis nowadays.
The exhibition was opened on 15 November 2023 and was followed by two events: a piano recital by Marek Bracha (the programme will consist of the music of Władysław Szpilman, Grażyna Bacewicz & Mieczysław Wajnberg who composed their music before, during and after WW2).
The day the exhibition is opened, the representatives of Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw Rising Musuem, Polish Institute in Tokio, Hiroshima’s Symphony and the Municipal Authorities of Hiroshima planted together a tree to commemorate the late Krzysztof Penderecki who was an outstanding composer closely attached to Japan and the author of the “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima”.
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The Exhibition “Warsaw. Phoenix from the ashes” will be open for visitors till 5 February 2024.
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Misister of Poland has granted honorary patronage to the Exhibition.
