Topics of the workshops:
1. Deported world
Duration of the workshops: 60 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Key words: war, deportations, Oral History, universalism
Description: During the workshops we will think what the victims of the soviet repression might have felt. Their emotions will be known thanks to a short film showing the moment of arresting a family by NKVD. It is a push to an exercise: we will try to name the things we would take from home in a critical situation, having no time to think.
To see how tough and different were Sybiraks’ fates, we will let them speak: we will listen to relations from the Museum’s archive. In the end we will discover that the tragic story which happened 80 years ago, repeats itself…
Workshops prepared with the cooperation with Anna Lach and Marcin Koziński.
2. Anders’ Army and Berling’s Army
Duration of the workshops: 50 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Key words: Armia Andersa, Armia Berlinga, II wojna światowa, propaganda, pamięć
Description: Two armies, which were different from each other almost in everything, but the common thing was that both of them were formed in the Soviet Union and Sybiraks became their members. Through the years many myths about these two armies were risen. Our task will be to divide historical facts from the untrue information.
We will try to do this difficult task by working in groups and insightful examination of the materials related to Anders’ Army and Beling’s Army: photos, documents, relations and archive footages. Gained knowledge will allow us to discuss the validity of the assessment of each formation. The skills that we use during the workshops will be useful in our everyday life to independently assess the information we receive.
3. The world in GULag
Duration of the workshops: 50 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Key words: microhistory, GUag, labour camps, humanity
Description: One of the goals set by the Soviets for the gulag system was the “re-education” of society through slave labor. Due to the enormity of the Soviet crimes, inmates are often treated statistically and anonymously.
The workshops will bring us closer to the fate of individual characters – representatives of different nationalities and ethnic groups. Only through the prism of their experiences will we find out who was sent to Soviet camps and learn about the operation of the “GULAG Archipelago”.
Topics of the paths leading though some parts of the exhibition:
1. Deportations and life in exile
Duration of the workshops: 50 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Key words: war, deportations, empathy, family mementoes
Description: By choosing this path, we will find ourselves in the middle of the deportation actions that started in February 1940. We will find out why the whole families, with children and seniors, were crammed into carriages and taken to the ‘inhuman land’. Inside the carriage, we will hear the relations of the witnesses of these events.
We will also see items taken by Sybiraks from their abandoned homes. After traveling the symbolic road to the East, we will reach the part of the exhibition, that teaches about the differences in life in the Siberian taiga and the Kazakh steppe, from the perspective of the deported Sybiraks. What mark did Siberia leave on these people? We will look for the answer to this question at the end of the exhibition.
2. War trials and the Katyn Massacre
Duration of the workshops: 50 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Key words: II workd war, Katyn, Anders’ Army, Armia Berling’s Army
Description: The path will bring us closer to the course of World War II. We will learn about its origins, with an emphasis on the joint responsibility of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union for its unleashing. We will get acquainted with the elements of the armament of the Soviet and German armies, as well as with the equipment of the Polish soldiers.
Tragic fate of the Polish prisoners of war, who got to the Soviet hands will be known in the Memorial of the Katyn Massacre. Then we will get to the end part of the exhibition. There we will see what kind of challenges Sybiraks had to face joining Anders’ Army and Berling’s Army. We will compare the both armies and on maps we will learn their combat trials. We will learn about the tragic fate of some of the Polish prisoners of war who fell into the hands of the Soviets at the Memorial of the Katyn Massacre, and then we will go to the final part of the exhibition. There we will see what challenges Sybiraks were facing when they joined the Anders Army and the Berling’s Army. We will compare both formations and learn about their combat routes on large-format maps.
3. A World Apart — the anatomy of the Soviet GULag
Duration of the workshops: 50 minutes (+ time to use the cloakroom)
Słowa kluczowe: labour camps, Gulag, soviet system
Description: What was the „Archipelag GULag” and how did the title „A World Apart” look like behind the barbed wire of Soviet labor camps beginning from the moment of arresting and the first interrogation. We will listen to the victims of the soviet repressions and tortures and see a labor camp inside.
Visual aspect of this part of the exhibition will make us realize how tough was inmates’ fight to keep a piece of humanity. We will also get to know the fates of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński and see one of the first „underground” edition of his book.
