Building Bridges Using the Five Senses: A history lesson for students from Ks. Kwiatkowski School in Bychawa

In June students from ks. Kwiatkowski School in Bychawa visited the WARSAW RISING MUSEUM. The museum commemorates one of the most tragic moments of Polish nation's history - the uprising which broke out in the Nazi occupied Warsaw in August, 1944. The Museum is a tribute of Warsaw’s residents to those who fought and died for independent Poland and its free capital. The exhibition depicts fighting and everyday life during the Rising, keeping occupation terror in the background. Complexity of the international situation at the time of the Rising is portrayed, including the post-war years of the Communist regime and the fate of Insurgents in the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). The museum holds a huge number of exhibition items, photographs, films and sound recordings. Visitors are guided through the subsequent stages of the Rising until the time when the Insurgents left Warsaw.

Visitors can also see the story of Allied airdrops. Its highlight is a replica of a Liberator B-24J bomber. Much of the exhibition has been devoted to the Germans and their allies, showing their actions in Warsaw as documented in official texts from the time of the Rising and in private notes. A movie theatre shows films about the Rising on a panoramic screen.

Our students were impressed by what they saw. The young generation who know the war time only from the history books and some films could not often believe what they saw in front of their eyes. They could hear the sounds from that time and touch the objects and weapons originally used in the fighting. They could experience a bit of what was everyday reality for their grandfathers and grandmothers.

After that we went on top of the Palace of Science and Culture (Warsaw's highest building) where everyone could compare images of the war-destroyed city remembered from the museum with a contemporary view of a modern thriving European capital.