The opening of the temporary exhibition: Forest. A shelter for victims. A crime hiding place.

Today, on August 30, 2024, on level -3 of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the opening of the temporary exhibition: Forest. A shelter  for victims. A crime hiding place.
The aim of the exhibition is to commemorate the victims on the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, which also took place in forest areas.
 

The exhibition is divided into five thematic areas:   
1.    POLISH CAMPAIGN OF 1939 - with particular emphasis on the beginning of the war on the Westerplatte Peninsula (fights in the Westerplatte Forest). 
2.    FOREST/WILDERNESS – shelter of victims, emphasizing the drama of the Jewish and Polish people in the Zamość region.
3.    FOREST/FORTRESS - a stronghold of partisan resistance and self-defense (including Janowskie Forests and Solska Forest, Tucholskie Forests, Vilnius Region, Nowogródek Region, Volhynia).
4.    FOREST/DESTROY - crime scene: among others the forests of Pomerania, the Katyn Forest, the Siberian taiga, German Nazi concentration camps, hidden in the forest or having a forest base; places of mass burials intentionally forested by the torturers.
5.    INFRINGEMENTS TO THE FOREST ECOSYSTEM DUE TO WAR

The leitmotif of the set design is the forest - a primeval home, contaminated by war. In addition to historical artifacts, the exhibition will include works of art: Wilhelm Sasnal's painting Shoah/Forest, Mirosław Bałka's video installation Winterreise: The Pond and Bambi, Magdalena Abakanowicz's sculpture Androgyne on a trapeze and 5 installations (abakans): Red-Brown, 1969, Otwarty, 1967. Black Garment 8, 1977, Czarna, 1979, Tuba, 1976, as well as the Zielnik i Berlin-Birkenau project by Łukasz Surowiec.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. A relaxation zone has been created. The exhibition is planned to include, among others: educational, scientific and artistic activities.

The temporary exhibition will be available in the temporary exhibition hall on level -3 of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk until February 28, 2025

Scenography design: Dorota Terlecka. Biuro Kreacja.