‘Poets of the Underworld. Word and Action” – beginning of the exhibition in Opole
date:02 September 2025 Editor: Editorial
On the 86th anniversary of the outbreak of planet War II, we invitation you to open an exhibition dedicated to poets whose life and creativity were connected with the time of occupation. They are poets of combat – led by the title word, but very frequently besides in conspiracy and with arms in hand. The exhibition was prepared by the Museum of the National Army in Krakow in cooperation with another institutions, including the Museum of Literature in Warsaw.
The exhibition, which will be presented on 1 September at 12 noon at the Museum in Opole, is an adaptation of the Krakow exhibition – it is enriched with exhibits from the collections of the CMJW and another facilities, including the Pilecki household home Museum and the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The arrangement was written by Marek Krajewski. The screenplay of the exhibition created by Maria Dorothy Pieńkowska focuses on figures of Polish artists with different views, education, social origins or a place occupied in a literary environment. There is 1 thing that unites them: the activity undertaken at a time erstwhile the pursuit of art, whose essence is freedom of expression, would seem impossible, unnecessary and above all besides dangerous.
Among the 14 presented in the triple spatter of identical visually identical biographies, among others, this close-up figure of Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) – a poet who became celebrated for his postwar poesy and essays, but so powerfully shaped by the experience of the 2 totalitarianisms of the 20th century that we read it as the evident voice of the Colombian generation. This biographical diversity makes the visitors face the representation of specified war experiences as Pawiak, Katyń, Volyn, insurgent Warsaw or Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. The fates of the creators illustrate individual memorabilia, including Tadeusz Gajcy's hat, which he wore like a disciple of the Marian Fathers' College in the Bielany in Warsaw or Roman Bratny's notebook stored in a pocket made in German captivity from a military blanket.
We cordially invitation you, especially as the exhibition's creators will take the level during the opening
