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For Polish Public TV: exposition about Polish hero in the Netherlands

On the 9th of March Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska commented on the exposition about Polish hero: Witold Pilecki in the Netherlands for Polish Public TV.

In Afnorth, International School in Brunssum an impressive exhibition devoted to a Polish hero Witold Pilecki, was officially opened by a Friend of the official Polish school located in Afnorth, lieutenant colonel, Mr Bogdan Baruch, on March 4. The exhibition can be admired in Brunssum till March 11 and then it will be presented at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Hague.

The first visitors were children of the official Polish school in Brunssum, director of the Polish School Ms Bozena Cichy, teachers, parents and official guests. They listened to fascinating stories about the life of the Polish hero Witold Pilecki told by Mr Dariusz Galaszewski from  the Branch Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw.

After the official opening children were invited to take part in an interactive game about Polish symbols.

Witold Pilecki, a cavalry master belonged to the generation that was born under occupation and his biggest dream was to have independent country. He represented generation who was raised with vivid polish tradition of national uprising which was shaped by motto God-Honor-Homeland.

During World War II, he volunteered for a Polish resistance operation to get imprisoned in the Auschwitz death camp in order to gather information. He organized a resistance movement in 1941 in camp and informed the Western Alllies about Nazi Germany’s   Auschwitz atrocities. Pilecki took part in the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. He remained loyal to the London-based Polish government-in-exile after the Soviet-backed communist takeover of Poland and was arrested in 1947 by the Stalinist secret police ( Urzad Bezpieczenstwa) on charges of working for “foreign imperialism”. He was executed after a show trial in 1948. Until 1989, information about his exploits and fate was suppressed by the Polish communist regime.

Exhibition prepared by the Branch Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw in cooperation with Zofia Pilecka-Optułowicz and Andrzej Pilecki (daughter and son of Witold Pilecki) presents the most important facts from life of heroic cavalry master.

This exhibition is a sentimental journey to places related to the life of Witold Pilecki like Easter Borderlands of Second Republic of Poland. He spent there the most beautiful time of his life. He created there his own „small homeland” and this was the place from where he set off to fight for freedom. During this journey you can get to know people who played a huge role in his life. They were fighting next to him (in the Nazi Concentration Camp in Auschwitz, in the Warsaw Uprising and during his business intelligence work for the Polish Government in Exile) and you can see photos from the show trial.

It is definitely a fantastic, emotional exhibition showing the spirit of a great Polish hero who never stopped loving his country and fighting for the freedom of his country!

Photos: Central and Eastern Europe Center: Communications-Unlimited.nl

Text: The Branch Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, Central and Eastern Europe Center: Communications-Unlimited.nl and Wikipedia.