In August 1944 Warsaw rose against the German occupation in an uprising carefully prepared by the Polish underground resistance. Its aim was to liberate the capital before the Red Army entered the city and imposed a communist government aligned with the Soviet Union.
The uprising lasted for more than two months and ended tragically despite extraordinary courage. It became the greatest catastrophe in Warsaw's history: around 200,000 inhabitants died, approximately 600,000 were expelled, and many were sent to German concentration camps or forced labour. The German occupiers then carried out a planned and systematic destruction of the city, leaving most of the capital in ruins.
This history is presented through a modern multimedia exhibition at the Warsaw Rising Museum, one of the capital's most visited museums. It covers the German and Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, the occupation, Operation Tempest, preparations for the uprising, the 63 days of fighting and the international political situation in 1944. The exhibition also examines the establishment of the Soviet-backed communist authorities in Lublin and the later fate of former insurgents under communist rule.
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