During the 2nd World War there was the Gestapo headquarters in Krakow, at 2, Pomorska Street. The cells of the previous Gestapo prison – the testimony of the past of this place – nowadays are the place of national memory and the most important point of the upcoming exhibition. The exhibition People of Kraków in Times of Terror 1939-1945-1956, telling the complex history of our city, prepares the visitors to see the cells, where Polish people, fighting for Polish freedom and independence, were tortured and murdered.
The exhibition is divided into three parts. The first one presents the activities of the Association of Defence of the Western Borderlands as well as the history of the Silesian House. The second part show the fate of chosen people – both Krakow citizens and persons connected with Krakow - the victims of the German terror during the Nazi occupation in 1939-1945. The third part of the exhibition is devoted to the period of 1945-1956 and presents various attitudes of the population against the people’s power imposed on the Polish society.
People of Kraków in Times of Terror... are a story about the similarities between the two totalitarian systems: the Nazi and the communist. This inhuman world will be presented to the visitors by means of the persons from the Gestapo and the Security Office. This exhibition is also a story of the ordinary people, citizens of Krakow, who lived here in this highly turbulent and tragic period in Polish history.
Documents, family souvenirs and photographs form the narrative of the Krakow citizens in 1939–1945 and 1945–1956. The documentary is complemented by the elements of stage design, including the arranged interrogation room, as well as the audiovisual presentations or recordings of the witnesses.
