The exhibition "Fighting Poland" prepared in 2015 by the Institute of National Remembrance reminds us about the Polish Underground State, a unique phenomenon in occupied Europe during World War II. It tells the story of the beginnings of the Polish underground in September 1939, its development and various forms of underground combat against both occupiers – the Germans and the Soviets. It presents the most important events, including Operation Tempest and the Warsaw Uprising through archival photos and documents from the period. The exhibition presents silhouettes of heroes, including the Cursed Soldiers, who continued their struggle for Poland's independence, resisting the communist dictatorship. The story is supplemented with photos from exhumation works conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance in places where the remains of the heroes of Fighting Poland, lost in communist prisons, are being found and identified.
Part of the exhibition prepared by the IPN Headquarters in Warsaw was supplemented by panels, describing the activities of the Polish Underground State in Podkarpacie, prepared by the IPN Branch in Rzeszów. The entire exhibition consists of 25 panels, 120x90 cm, prepared in Polish and English.
The authors:
Dr Paweł Rokicki from the National Education Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, author and co-author of numerous albums and educational exhibitions on historical topics, including: "„It’s War… Civilians in September 1939", "The Destruction of Polish elites. OperationAB - Katyn "," Żegota. Council for Aid to Jews”,
" The Expelled "," The victims of martial law ". A researcher of the history of the Polish independence underground in the Vilnius region during the Second World War.
Dr Mirosław Surdej - a graduate of UMCS Lublin. Since 2006, an employee of the Institute of National Remembrance Branch in Rzeszów. Author of two monographs " Oddział partyzancki Wojciecha Lisa 1941–1948 " and " Okręg Rzeszowski Narodowej Organizacji Wojskowej – Narodowego Zjednoczenia Wojskowego w latach 1944–1947 " as well as a dozen or so scientific articles devoted to the activities of the political and armed underground in Poland in 1939-1956.
Katarzyna Kyc - a graduate of the Faculty of History at the Jagiellonian University. Since 2005, an employee of the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów dealing with broadly understood educational activities. The author of several educational exhibitions, including "The Polish Underground State in Rzeszowszczyzna 1939-1944 / 45" and "Symbols of our history, part. III ", coordinator of regional and national educational projects, author of several scientific and popular science articles.
The organizers of the event are Stanisław Ożóg - Member of the European Parliament and prof. Ryszard Legutko - chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
The exhibition is under the patronage of Marek Kuchciński, the Speaker of the Polish Sejm.