The exhibition prepared by the IPN Archive, presented under the Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda on the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence, is the result of cooperation between the Institute of National Remembrance and the State Archives in Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia and Odessa.
It was created thanks to archival materials passed on to the IPN by the Ukrainian State Archives in Odessa, Khmelnytsky and Vinnytsia. The documents produced by the NKVD are proof of the planned, criminal activity of the Soviet apparatus of repression, which was never to be revealed.
The 16 exhibition boards present the fate of people persecuted as part of the "Polish operation" carried out by the NKVD in the Soviet Union in 1937-1938. The men arrested as part of the operation were accused of belonging to the Polish Military Organization, which had not existed since 1921, and which allegedly carried out spying and subversive activities for the benefit of the Second Polish Republic. Most of them were sentenced to death. The wives of "spies" or "enemies of the people" were sent for 5 to 10 years to Kazakhstan for not informing the authorities about "the counter-revolutionary espionage activities" of their husbands. Their children were often sent to orphanages or imprisoned in labor camps.
As part of the "Polish operation", not only Poles were persecuted, but also people of other nationalities, including Ukrainians. Over 143,000 people were arrested, of which at least 111,000 were sentenced to death. Nearly 30,000 Poles were sent to labor camps.
The authors of the exhibition: Sergiusz Kazimierczuk, Mariusz Kwaśniak, Paweł Zielony, Mariusz Żuławnik, Ph.D
Project coordinator: Paweł Zielony
Graphic design, typesetting and photo preparation: Tandem Studio
Exhibition prepared by: The Archive of the Institute of the National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in cooperation with the State Archives of Khmelnytsky,Odessa and Vinnytsia
The exhibition and catalogue have been prepared in four language versions: Polish, English, Ukrainian and German