Palmiry Museum in Kampinos National Park

Kampinos – Between Heroism and Tragedy

[User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons] W arsaw is one of the few cities with a population of over one million in the world that directly borders a national park. Northwest of the capital lies Kampinos National Park, covering an area of 385 square kilometres. This extensive forest area played an important role in Polish history on several occasions: during various uprisings as well as in the turmoil of the First and Second World Wars, it served insurgents, partisans and soldiers as a place of retreat, a hiding place and a starting point for military operations, including in Palmiry.

However, the forest is not only a place of heroic remembrance, but also a site of great tragedy. Between 1939 and 1945, the German occupiers carried out secret mass executions deep in the forest. In memory of the more than 2,000 victims, the Palmiry Museum was established, a memorial site with a cemetery and museum building that today powerfully recalls one of the darkest chapters in the history of this region.

Kampinos National Park @ kasiaplanbfotostudio via Pixabay

The Memorial Site and Cemetery

The cemetery in Palmiry @ User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepańczyk, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Palmiry is a small village located not far from the execution sites. At the place where the Gestapo and SS secretly shot more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, a memorial consisting of three white crosses was erected in 1948. After the exhumations, a cemetery was established on the grounds where the mass graves had been found. The number of people buried in the cemetery ranges between 2,115 (according to the information board on site) and 2,252.

The National Socialists chose this location for the executions because there was a paved access road that had been built by the Polish army in 1929. It led to a secret weapons and ammunition depot. In 1939, fierce fighting took place here. The Germans wanted to prevent the Polish army from transporting the arsenal to the fighting units. In mid-September, the Polish defenders blew up the depot. The crater from the explosion is still visible today.

The former facility was dismantled and an area was cleared where the executions were carried out. The first mass execution took place on 14 December 1939.

At the entrance to the cemetery, a stone plaque with an engraved text was erected:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ff681a” class=”” size=””]It is easy to speak about Poland, harder to work for Poland, even harder to die for Poland, and hardest of all to suffer for Poland.[/perfectpullquote]

(Łatwo jest mówić o Polsce, trudniej dla niej pracować,jeszcze trudniej umrzeć, a najtrudniej cierpieć.)

The Victims

The Road to Death @ Public Domain

Most of the victims came from the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw, which is also a museum today (it is located on the former grounds of the Jewish Ghetto). From there, they were transported by trucks to the open area. The people were lined up at the edge of previously dug trenches and shot with machine guns. The filled-in pits were planted with pine trees.

The Polish underground knew about the executions from the very beginning. With the help of foresters working in the forest, the mass graves could be located. During nighttime operations, they had marked the freshly planted trees. In total, there were 24 mass graves covering an area of 1.5 square kilometres.

Twenty percent of the victims were women, and a large proportion were of Jewish origin. Among the victims were many members of the educated upper class, athletes and politicians who were executed as part of the AB Actions. They included Olympic medallists (Janusz Kusocinski, Tomasz Stankiewicz), chess master Dawid Przepiorka, university professors, Marshal of the Sejm Maciej Rataj and several mayors.

Palmiry Museum | The Museum Building

The museum entrance © Jolanta Dyr via wikimedia

In 1973, the Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom was built next to the cemetery. Since 1980, it has been a branch of the Museum of Warsaw. After a storm in 2004, a competition was announced for a new museum building, construction of which began in 2009. It opened on 5 April 2011. The old building from the 1970s was demolished and replaced by a modern structure made of glass, concrete and rusted iron. In addition, the parking area was modernised and sanitary facilities were installed. The museum building has a usable floor area of 1,100 square metres. The new name of the museum is Palmiry Memorial Site.

The architects of the project were Szczepan Wronski and Wojciech Condera from the architectural firm WXCA S.C. The multimedia presentation of the exhibition was installed under the direction of Joanna Maldis. The artistic decoration was prepared by interior designers Marek and Maciej Mikulski.

The new building cost PLN 9.4 million, of which PLN 2.6 million came from EU funding.

The Exhibition

The exhibition deals with the executions in the village of Palmiry as well as throughout the entire area of Kampinos National Park between 1939 and 1943 and with special events in this area during the Second World War.

Four pine trees were planted in the middle of the exhibition and surrounded by a circular glass structure. These pine trees are intended to accompany visitors during their tour and remind them of the subject. A large window offers a view of the cemetery grounds.

The two sections of the exhibition are “Executions 1939 – 1943. Palmiry – Kampinos Forest” and “Exhumations – Cemetery in Palmiry 1945 – 1945“. Biographies of selected individuals, photographs, personal belongings of the victims, German death certificates of those murdered and newspaper articles published by the underground organisation are displayed. Illuminated display cases contain objects recovered during the exhumations that made it possible to identify the people in the mass graves.

Chancellor’s Visit in 1999

In 1999, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited the memorial site as part of his visit to Poland. The visit took place in September, 60 years after Germany’s invasion of Poland. One of the main topics was Poland’s forthcoming accession to the European Union. Gerhard Schröder supported this process.