Warsaw Rising Museum

The Warsaw Rising Museum is a World War Two museum in Poland’s capital city, dedicated to the insurgency of the Polish population against its Nazi German occupiers. It is particularly focused on the Warsaw Uprising, an operation carried out by Polish freedom fighters in August 1944.

History of the Warsaw Rising Museum

The Warsaw Uprising should not to be confused with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, where Jewish Poles mounted an attack against the German army in an attempt to prevent the Jewish population being sent to concentration camps.

The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was a 2 month battle carried out by Polish freedom fighters to liberate their country from the Nazis. In an operation codenamed ‘Tempest’, this people’s army began its assault at exactly 17:00 on 1 August 1944, known as ‘W-hour’.

The battle was ferocious and bloody, resulting in over 20,000 civilian deaths and the almost complete destruction of the city. The Polish fighters expected help from other Allied nations and, with none forthcoming, the operation failed.

The Warsaw Rising Museum opened on 31 July 2004 – the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in Warsaw, and serves as a tribute of Warsaw’s residents to those who fought and died for independent Poland and its free capital.

The Warsaw Rising Museum today

The Warsaw Rising Museum explores the events of the uprising and its aftermath as well as placing it in the larger context of the Second World War. Exhibiting everything from weapons, love letters and detailed timelines to the armbands worn by the insurgents and the W Hour clock, still set to 17:00, the Warsaw Rising Museum’s exhibit is poignant and detailed.

The Warsaw Rising Museum immerses the visitor in the events of the 1944 battle with films of original newsreels and even a recreation of the sewer systems which the Poles used as a means of travelling through the city. There is also a children’s exhibition called “the Little Insurgents Room”. The museum is open every day except Tuesdays, and offers guided tours in many languages. Admission is free on Mondays.

Getting to the Warsaw Rising Museum

Bus lines 102, 105, 190 or tram lines 1, 11, 22, 24 stop near the museum. The closest metro station is Rondo Daszyńskiego Station, on metro line II.