Temporary exhibitions

The exhibition Poets of the Underground. The Word and the Deed presents profiles and outputs of poets engaged in conspiratorial activity during World War 2. Primarily, it focuses on younger creators of the so-called Columbus Generation, who – despite differences in their social backgrounds and political views – were connected by their literary talents and desire to fight for Poland, or – which unfortunately was very often the case – their deaths from the occupants’ hands. The exhibition transfers us into a world which is marked by hope and great thirst for life, despite the overwhelming evil surrounding the heroes. Thus, we get to know, on the one hand – the rich biographies of promising poets, who in many cases have fallen into oblivion today, but also their outputs – on the other one. The latter do not include only pieces showing pictures of the mother country being annihilated or ones that spur the reader to offer resistance, but also poems whose essence are love, friendship, hope or sensitivity to the beauty of nature.

The exhibition presents the profiles of very well-known poets such as: Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Tadeusz Gajcy, Zbigniew Herbert, but also – which can be a little surprising to many – Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki. Apart from them, there are Krystyna Krahelska and Józef Szczepański, too, whose poems have entered the memory of the Warsaw Rising on a permanent basis. There are still other creators, among others, Władysław Sebyła, Zygmunt Rumel, Teresa Bogusławska, Janusz Krasiński, who are present here and … what they went through: Pawiak, Katyń, Wolhynia, the Warsaw Rising as well as Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. We are told stories of the poets’ vicissitudes additionally by means of presented mementos from the collections of the Museum of Literature in Warsaw, Warsaw Rising Museum, Pilecki Family House Museum in Ostrów Mazowiecka, Museum of the History of Polish People’s Movement, the Archives of New Records in Warsaw, and also ones from private collections. Among them, particular attention is drawn by the following: Tadeusz Gajcy’s school cap, a photo of Cavalry Capt. Witold Pilecki mounting his favourite mare Bajka [Fable], taken before the War, or Roman Bratny’s camp diary that comes from our own collection.

The exhibition draws attention by its interesting scenography. Among the images and biographical notes on the presented poets, there is also arranged a recreated fragment of the underground printing house equipped with an authentic duplicator. In the boxes for keeping weapons, there are copies of underground magazines, among others Miesięcznik Literacki [Literary Monthly], Sztuka i Naród [Art and the Nation], Droga [The Road], Dźwigary [The Girders], Kultura Jutra [The Culture of Tomorrow]. Visitors can listen to recitations of selected poems, take away printed fragments of some of them and compose their own volumes of poetry.

The exhibition was prepared by Emil Fieldorf ‘Nil’ Museum of the Home Army in Krakow in cooperation with the Museum of Literature in Warsaw. The author of the exhibition is Maria Dorota Pieńkowska of the latter, and the author of the exhibition design – Anna Nowak-Kacprzak. The arrangement of the exhibition in Opole was prepared by Marek Krajewski.

The exhibition will be on at our Museum until 27 February 2026.