President wants communism museum in Poland

President Komorowski at the 'History for school and life' public debate in Warsaw, Monday: photo – PAP/Jacek Turczyk

Speaking during a debate on history curricula in Polish schools held at the Presidential Palace, Monday, Bronislaw Komorowski said that the prison on Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw, a once notorious institution where political prisoners where incarcerated during the communist-era, is a suitable location for such a museum.

The Museum of Warsaw Rising, which was founded in 2004, can serve as a model of how Poland’s recent history can be presented, he said.

“Without the knowledge of the past, it is difficult to build a sense of continuity of the state and nation. I belong to those who cannot imagine one’s personal life, the life of the family and the nation without an awareness of history,” Komorowski said.

The prison on Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw was built for criminal offenders by Russian occupiers in 1899.

After World War Two, it became the toughest place of detention for political prisoners and thus a symbol of communist rule and of Soviet domination over Poland.

The nation’s heroes executed in the Rakowiecka Prison included WW II resistance fighters General Emil Fieldorf ‘Nil’ and Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki. (mk/pg)