If you live within reach of London it would be lovely to see you here. This commemorative exhibition should be both informative and fascinating. The exhibition is open till 8th August and then from 10th August in POSK in Hammersmith.

Warsaw Calling

80th anniversary exhibition commemorating the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, 20 July-8 August 2024

Opening Events Saturday 20 July 2024

The Arcade, Bush House, WC2R 2LS

On 1 August 1944, the Polish resistance fighting the Nazis launched the Warsaw Uprising — one of the biggest acts of rebellion against Hitler’s rule in occupied Europe. Seeking to exploit Soviet military advances to the east of Warsaw and establish control ahead of the Red Army’s arrival,  the Armia Krajowa — ‘Home Army’ — was outnumbered and outgunned, battling German troops for two months, before being forced to surrender, while Moscow’s military paused its offensive. The Nazis killed an estimated 250,000 combatants and civilians, and destroyed the city.

This dramatic story is told in a free exhibition at King’s College London on the Strand in Central London, opening on 20 July in the Arcade, Bush House. The exhibition is organised by a partnership involving the Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War, King’s Culture, the Department of History and the Department of War Studies, at King’s College London, and the Polish Underground Movement Study Trust (PUMST), based in Ealing in West London, and home to an impressive archive of material on the Home Army and the Uprising, which underpins the exhibition, with invaluable help and further material from the London-based Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, which holds archives of the Polish government-in-exile and the Second World War Polish military, as well as contributions from Warsaw.

The show focuses on the personal stories of those involved in this terrible battle — the fighters and the civilians caught up in the conflict. The suffering, the courage and the despair of those involved resonates widely in today’s world with its multiple violent conflicts.

The exhibition also highlights the key role played by London in the uprising. The Polish Government, based there for most of World War Two, and the Polish military headquarters directed the fighting via encrypted radio links with the Warsaw commanders. Secret messages went back and forth daily between Britain and the Polish capital. There was also limited practical support with air dropped supplies from Britain, while the BBC was significant — with the Polish service broadcasts significant, but also subject to censorship and institutional tussles.

The opening of the exhibition on 20 July is accompanied by a series of complementary activities. The schedule for the day is as follows:

11.00 Exhibition Opens

11.00-1700 Audio Installation — BBC Radio 4 documentary Red Runs the Vistula — The Story of the Warsaw Uprising 1944 (narrated by Polish-British actress Rula Lenska)

11.15 Practical Analogue Image Making with Photographs from the PUMST archive (Dr. Milena Michalski, Department of War Studies, darkroom Londno)

12.00 Documentary Film Screening —: The Battle for Warsaw, 1944 Dir. Wanda Koscia, 2005

1300-1430 Warsaw Rising! Panel discussion (requires booking – get your ticket here WEBLINK)

Speakers

Chair. Professor James Gow, Department of War Studies, King’s College London

Dr Halik Kochanski, independent historian, author of The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War

Dr Joanna Hanson, Polish Underground Movement Study Trust (PUMST) and formerly FCDO Research Analyst

Krzysztof Pszenicki, Author and former Head of  BBC Polish Service

Prof. James Bjork, Department of History, KCL

1500 Documentary Film Screening — The Battle for Warsaw, 1944 Dir. Wanda Koscia, 2005

1600 Analogue Image Making with Photographs from the PUMST archive (TBC)

LOCATION

The Arcade, Bush House WC2R 2LS