"Warsaw. Phoenix from the ashes" is the name of the exhibition that will be open for public in Osaka from 16 April 2024. It tells the story of the capital of Poland under German occupation, during Warsaw Rising in 1944 and after WW2. Earlier, the exhibition was shown in Hiroshima.
The Exhibition has been prepared by the Warsaw Rising Museum and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in cooperation with the Polish Institute in Tokio and the Osaka International Peace Center.
The venue for the exhibition, the Osaka International Peace Centre is an exceptional place. It welcomes visitors since 1991 within the Osaka Castle Park. In 2015 it opened again as the museum that carries for the future generations the message of peace in remembrance of the tragic WW2 history. The Museum presents materials that reflect the war experiences with a special attention given to the bombing of Osaka to show the tragic toil of the war but at the same time remember about its victims and underline the meaning of peace.
The exhibition consists of 50 boards and 3 showcases with exibits. There will be also screening of a film that shows 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, military organizations, education, “Żegota” Committee to Save Jews 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 tragic fate of Warsaw’s inhabitants is the main theme of a movie: “Warsaw Uprising” (by Jan Komasa) that was created on the basis of the real WW2 footage - the Insurgent newsreels from 1944. You are kindly invited to the Osaka International Peace Center on 1.06, 8.06, 15.06, 22.06 and 29.06.2024 to watch it.
The exhibition will be open for public till 14 July 2024.
The Prime Minister of Poland has granted honorary patronage to the Exhibition.
