Warsaw Rising Museum

Museums are not really on the top of my "to see" list. When I went to Amsterdam, I did not visit the Van Gogh museum; when I went to Paris, I did not go inside the Louvre. I know - this is sacrilege for most, but to each his own I guess.

It is quite surprising then that last weekend, I went to visit the Warsaw Rising Museum. Opened in 2004, it chronicles in full multimedia glory the Warsaw revolt of 1944. Before this musuem was opened, the history of the Warsaw revolt (or "Warsaw Rising") was a confusing and unorganized mess. Many of the historical facts surrounding this event were hidden or distorted, mainly due to the fact that Poland was under communist rule until 1989.

It was an amazing experience. Not only was it the most modern musuem I've been to (admittedly, I haven't been to too many museums in my life), it also shows the rich (and tragic) history of this great city. I personally prefer museums that tell an interesting story - the history of a people or place, how people lived and died back then, what weapons they used, how medieval people used partly-eaten corn cobs before the invention of toilet paper - it is certainly more interesting (to me at least) than places which just collect various pieces of art or sculpture.

A Polish friend of mine once told me that the reason why Warsaw has been destroyed so many times during its history was because the Polish people would rather fight back than surrender.
This is unlike, for example, Brussels or Paris - they never fought back, so these cities are still pretty much in tact. In fact, the English word "surrender" came from the French - the original word is "surrendre."

Not surrendering is evident even in the logo of the museum - the letters "P" and "W" shaped like an anchor (seen above) - stands for "Polska walcząca," meaning "Poland Fights."

The Warsaw Uprising lasted for 3 months (August 1, 1944 to October 2, 1944) - they were battling the Nazi Germany occupation of Poland during World War 2 - the same war which resulted in the decimation of Poland's (and much of Europe's) Jewish population. You can probably read about this whole thing on the internet, so I am not going into it with too much detail. Basically, the Germans destroyed about 85% of the city - and they did this systematically. They brought in demolition experts, these guys walked around the city block by block, and marked every building with chalk - indicating the "best" way to demolish it (i.e. how much explosive to use, where to place these explosives, etc.). End result was that after the Germans left, the city was literally flattened - not a single building remained.

Poland's biggest ally during this time (the Russians) stood at the border, and basically just watched the destruction of Warsaw happen. After the Germans systematically destroyed everything, they left Warsaw. The Russians then came, and stole what was left.

The Russians then built a large tower in the center of the city (now called the "Palace of Culture and Science") - it was Stalin's "gift" to the Polish people, a symbol of Communism, and Russia's influence over this area of the world. Since there were no buildings left in the city when this was built, it was a stunning sight. I saw pictures of a flat Warsaw with only a huge tower existing in the middle - WOW! Especially if you compare this to how it looks now:


It's still the tallest building in Warsaw, and (understandably), the Polish people absolutely hate it. I went to a meeting at our client's office a month ago - the meeting room had windows facing this tower. I commented to my Polish client that their office had a "nice" view. He said that actually, it was a "terrible" view.

There is even a joke that at the top of this tower is the best view of Warsaw. This is the best view because it is the only view that doesn't include the tower itself!

A visit to any place is uninteresting if you don't know its history. A visit to the Warsaw Rising Museum is definitely a must - if you ever come to Warsaw, you should go here first. It sort of puts things in the proper perspective.

The picture above came from the official Warsaw Rising Museum website.