News

Six decades have passed since monumental commemorations held on the sites of former concentration and extermination camps and prisoner-of-war camps, and new museums, including ours, were established. Among those special places is the Monument to the Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice, dedicated to the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition who died in the Lamsdorf POW camps.

Because of this solemn anniversary, during the “Łambinowice Museum Meeting” we brought up the history of the creation of this important monument. Our guest was Jadwiga Wójciak, president of the ‘Niemodlin Forest Partnership’ Association, who, inspired by an old postcard from the unveiling the monument published on the 20th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, undertook in-depth research on the subject.

The meeting was opened by the Director of the CMJW, Dr. Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska, who retold the most important facts related to the establishment of the Monument and the Museum. Then Jadwiga Wójciak started speaking. We learnt a lot of interesting information about the course of the field research conducted by the president of the Niemodlin Forest Partnership. She reached out to people who not only remember well the ceremony of the unveiling of the monument itself, but also the appearance of the cemetery located next to it, before its clean-up and reorganisation. Moreover, Jadwiga Wójciak managed to find the builders of the monument - inhabitants of Łambinowice and Szadurczyce - whose names had been unknown up to that point.

The lecture was enriched by a richly illustrated presentation and a screening of a fragment from the film “Epicedion” (1967). This is very interesting film material, in which Ewa Demarczyk's poignant music and singing are accompanied by images of the Łambinowice’s Site of Remembrance with the landscape’s most important landmark - the Monument to the Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War towering over the area. Due to the then different, lower and not so dense forest stand, it was probably even more distinct and dominating the surrounding space.

We would like to thank everyone for attending the meeting and also remind the enthusiasts of our museum series that we will be back with new topics after the holiday season.