Martyrology Museums and Sights in Poland

WWII brought to Poland the most barbaric and tragical actions. Their formost aim was to destroy the nations of the occupied territories. The Poles and Jews were the main communities subject to extermination by Nazi Germans. Nowadays, in the places of former concentration camps and other martyrdom sights, there are memorial places, monuments and museums which main purpose is commemorating the victims and ensuring memory to stop such atrocities in the future. There are about 20 thousand places of martyrdom in Poland. Still, former concentration camps have the most important role when it comes to tourist movement.

In each concentration camp from a few thousand to a few hundred people were killed. The biggest former Nazi-German Concentration Camp is Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oświęcim town in which about 1.5 mln people were murdered (90% of which were Jews). It is enlisted at UNESCO World Heritage List. The most often visited places of martyrdom apart from Oświęcim include Lublin Museum in Majdanek, Stutthof Concentration Camp in Sztutowo village and Treblinka Concentration Camp (changed into monumental cemetery).

Main martyrdom sights at current Polish territory include:

Bełżec – former Nazi German Concentration Camp, nowadays memory sight with a monument

Bielsk Podlaski – Martyrdom Museum in former Gestapo headquarters

Chełmno nad Nerem – Martyrdom Museum

Dobiegniew - Oflag II C Woldenberg Museum - former prisoners of war camp

Gdańsk – Polish Mail Museum, Westerplatte Museum, WWII Museum  

Kielce – Museum of National Remembrance

Kraków – Pomorska Street Museum (former Gestapo headquarters), Schindler’s Factory Museum, Galicia Museum, Ghetto Heroes Square 

Lublin – former Nazi German Concentration Camp, nowadays National Museum in Majdanek, Lublin Museum, Martyrdom Branch “Pod Zegarem” (Under Clock), Memory chamber on the New Jewish Cemetery 

Luboń – Martyrdom Museum in Żabikowo

Michniów - Mausoleum of Martyrdom of Polish Villages

Łambinowice - Central Museum of Prisoners of War in Łambinowice-Opole

Łódź – Radogoszcz Martyrology Museum 

Oświęcim – former Nazi German Concentration Camp Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (enlisted at UNESCO World Heritage Site List)

Palmiry - Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom with cemetery 

Poznań – Martyrology Mausoleum in VII Fortress

Pustków-Osiedle - European Center of Remembrance and Reconciliation in place of the former Nazi labor camp in Pustków

Rogoźnica – former Nazi German Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp Museum

Rypin - Museum of the Dobrzyń Land in Rypin, exhibition “Basements of the House of Execution”

Słońsk – Museum of former Nazi German Concentration Camp Sonnenburg

Sobibór – Mound and monument at the site of former Nazi German Concentration Camp

Sztutowo - former Nazi German Concentration Camp Stutthof Museum 

Treblinka - Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom in the former Nazi German Concentration Camp

Warsaw – Prison Museum Pawiak, the Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom, X Pavilion Museum, Warsaw’s Citadel Museum, Katyń Museum, Warsaw Rising Museum, POLIN Museum and Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument, Umschlagplatz 

Zakopane - Palace Struggle and Martyrdom Museum

Zamość - Rotunda Martyrology Museum in Zamość

Żagań - Museum of Martyrdom of Allied Prisoners of War in Żagań

Summing up, it is of great significance to us to spread factual knowledge about the martyrs of WWII. This is why it is very important for us to organize visits, especially teenagers, in these places and we feel privileged to take part in such travel and educational projects. If you are interested in WWII victims commemoration contact ITS Poland DMC, we will help you to organize all your stay details and help you to organize educational program.

Author: Agnieszka Szwedzińska

Date 29.12.2021