Opening of the temporary exhibition "The fate of policemen during World War II"

On July 24, 2018, at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the temporary exhibition "The fate of policemen during World War II" was opened. The exhibition is presented in hall l at level -2.

The opening of the exhibition accompanied the provincial celebrations of Police Day, which began at the square in front of the Museum at 12.00.

The exhibition is devoted to the fate of the officers of the State Police of the Second Polish Republic during the Second World War. The exhibition presents the circumstances of the founding of the police in the reborn Poland, the participation of policemen in the war of 1939, the situation of policemen after the defeat of the Republic and the fate of officers in Soviet captivity and under German occupation.

The exhibition was opened by Prof. Grzegorz Berendt, Deputy Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk: "What you see here is largely the merit and the result of the work of Prof. Tomasz Chinyciński, but also all the people fascinated and absorbed in researching and documenting the history of the state police before September 1 and later, because, thanks to their collections, the collections of photographs and objects in the exhibition you will see could be enriched and diversified. This exhibition is devoted to 32 thousand functionaries of the pre-war State Police, of which thousands did not survive World War II because the aggressors considered the officers a deadly enemy".

The Police Day celebrated annually on July 24 was established on the anniversary of the establishment of the State Police in 1919. Eight months after achieving independence, Poland organized a formation responsible for security, peace and public order. "The exhibition shows how the history of the pre-war State Police was violently interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and shows the fate of our predecessors - who took the oath of office and came to fulfill it until the end. (...) Let's watch the exhibition in the conviction that such events will never be repeated" - said Supt. Jarosław Rzymkowski, the Provincial Police Commandant in Gdańsk, to those gathered.