The exhibition "Polish People's Republic – Poles of Remembrance" has been planned as the main event accompanying the seventh anniversary of the opening of the National Museum in Szczecin – the Dialogue Centre Upheavals. Its aim is to show the various shades of life in People's Poland.
The everyday life of ordinary citizens, both those who submitted to the system and those who took up the fight for a better Poland, was juxtaposed with the life of party elites, free from the effects of the economic crisis or repression. The exposition shows that in those times there were two truths: the "only right" truth, used to indoctrinate the society, and, in opposition to it, the second one, which was proclaimed by people who disagreed with the hypocrisy imposed by the policy of the communist state.
The struggle to save the history of our ancestors from being forgotten, as well as for freedom and a better life, was not a common phenomenon. Most were afraid and preferred to passively wait for the brave to win on their behalf. There were also human dramas. The party could be tempting, and acting in opposition was associated with great risk. People faced the question whether it was better to live peacefully as a slave of the system, or to risk and condemn oneself to repression and life in fear, in the name of values and priceless freedom.
The introduction to the exhibition will be a presentation of the realities and problems during the formation of the Polish People's Republic and the characteristics of the changes that ended the era. The culmination will be the juxtaposition of two worlds from both sides of the Iron Curtain.
The National Museum in Szczecin – the Dialogue Centre Upheavals
plac Solidarności 1, education room / open storage
January 26th – July 2nd 2023
Vernissage: January 25th 2023, 5:15 P.M.
Curator: Paula Sendra
Exhibition design: Agnieszka Kuchcińska-Kurcz, Paula Sendra
Organizer: The National Museum in Szczecinie
The National Museum in Szczecinie is a cultural institution of the Provincial Gvernment of West-Pomeranian Voivodeship co-led by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
The Sponsor of the National Museum in Szczecin: PKO Bank Polski