The narrative of the main exhibition at the Museum of the Second World War focuses on, among other things, the tragic experiences of Poles under German occupation. Many of them were murdered as part of the "Aktion Intelligenz" (Intelligenzaktion) from the autumn of 1939 or the "Aktion AB" in 1940 – the Extraordinary Pacification Action (Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion). The names of Polish activists were known to the Germans through publications such as the "Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen – The Special Book of the Wanted in Poland". Copies of this book are presented in our exhibition.
"Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen" is a special publication – an expanded version of the Sonderfahndungsliste, which were proscription lists given to the German invaders when they entered Poland in September 1939. The Einsatzgruppen – German police and security service operational groups – gathered information based on these lists to create the later wanted book. It serves as both an important historical document and one of the numerous pieces of evidence of the criminal intentions of the German occupiers.
A copy of the first page of this publication is displayed in the main exhibition at the MSWW. It is located in the section dedicated to German occupational terror, alongside the names of Polish elites who were murdered by the invaders in the first months of the war.
