In an interview for Polish Radio, the director of the museum Jan Ołdakowski said that this is going to be a very important event, with around 200 former insurgents having declared their readiness to attend. He added: “All of them are in their nineties, and each of them will be assisted by a group of volunteers, offering companionship and help in moving around the city and in various tasks in their homes or places of accommodation”.
Ołdakowski said that 2024 also marks the 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Rising Museum, which was the brainchild of Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland who was killed in the air crash in Russia in 2010 and who previously served as the Mayor of Warsaw. “When the Museum opened, 4,000 former insurgents were still alive; today no more than 400 are still with us”, he said.
In 2023, the Warsaw Rising Museum attracted almost 620,000 visitors.
Fought in a bid to secure Poland’s post-war independence, the Warsaw Uprising broke out on 1 August 1044. It was led by the Home Army, commanded by Poland’s government-in-exile in London, which secretly deployed around 50, 000 fighters. Around 13, 000 of them died, and 25,000 were wounded in the sixty three day-long battle. Some 150, 000 civilians were massacred, or killed by crossfire or bombing, as the Germans took Warsaw back street by street. (mk)