Tragedy of the Warsaw Rising, bravery of the Insurgents and the suffering of the civilians are discussed whenever the case of the fighting for freedom in Warsaw in the summer of 1944 is brought to discussion. One of the most terrifying elements of the drama of the Rising was the passage through sewers. Today, we reveal the story behind the most iconic photograph related to the ‘underground inferno’!
It was almost the end of July 1944. The higher command of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and the Polish Underground State were busy considering pros and cons to launch the battle for Warsaw, later known as the Warsaw Rising. Then, they discussed in depth political and military issues and even today these issues are being analyzed and questioned by historians, journalists and all those for whom the history of the Warsaw Rising is dear. However, these discussions rarely mention the aspect that had an impact on those who took the decision to start the Rising namely, their WWI experience.
A city with chaotic and inconherent architecture, that is how Warsaw is often perceived by tourists. For Varsovians however, their city is beautiful because it was brought back to life. We cannot boast about ideally preserved relics of the past but thanks to thousands of Warsaw’s inhabitants the city has risen from the ashes.
It is one of the highlights of the Warsaw Rising Museum. Every visitor raises their head to ponder on its story. The Liberator piloted by Cpt. Zbigniew Szostak completed six vital airdrops of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies over fighting Warsaw in 1944. This one-to-one scale replica of Szostak’s Liberator pays homage to the bravery, skill and courage of the crew who gave their all to help Warsaw during its greatest hour of need. All seven crew members were sadly killed in action over southern Poland on 15 August 1944, by a Luftwaffe night fighter during their return flight back to Brindisi, Italy.
Janusz Groszkowski a Polish radio-frequency (RF) engineering pioneer was one of the first academics in the world to analyze the steering system of V-2, a German ballistic missile. His work helped the Allies to get ready for the attacks of this Hitler’s new ‘Wunderwaffe’.
On 18 September 1944 USAAF B-17 bombers dropped supplies to Poles besieged at the time of the Warsaw Rising. Thanks to cooperation with the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Frantic #7 archival documents are now at the Warsaw Rising Museum.
The Red Army took over the city of Leszno on the night of 30/31 January 1945. The German occupation was over. German residents fled in a hurry and left over property and personal belongings in their deserted houses. A few weeks later in one of the apartments a photography treasure trove was found, namely a collection of photographs taken by Alfred Mensebach in September 1944. He was an architect and a member of Sprengkommando, stationed at 13, Płocka Street in Warsaw, a unit within the Technisches Nothilfe, responsible for detonating monuments and houses in Warsaw.
In 1944, during the Warsaw Rising, the Western Allies launched a special operation known as the Warsaw Airlift to drop supplies such as weapons, amunition, medicines, food and clothes to the Poles struggling for freedom in Warsaw, the heart of their occupied country. Four-engine bombers – Liberators, Halifaxes and B-17s had usually seven crew members on board. The aircrafts took off from the airfields in Southern Italy and (once) from Great Britain. The airlift was an example of superhuman heroism. What made it all possible? Skills, cleverness, luck and… faith in God, as the crew members recalled.
In the summer 1873 the clock tower of the Royal Castle of Warsaw was covered in scaffold with a platform over the dome. On 26 August 1873 Konrad Brandel, a famous Polish photographer and inventor, took a unique series of 10 pictures creating a 360° panorama of Warsaw.
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