Bydgoszcz 1939-1945

The board exhibition presents the most important persons, places and events that took place in Bydgoszcz during the German occupation. The exhibition includes rich iconographic material documenting that difficult period in the history of Bydgoszcz. The boards present the events which occurred in Bydgoszcz between 1939-1945 in a chronological and problematic order.

The first part of the exhibition presents the preparations of the Polish party to repel the German aggression, the situation of the citizens of Bydgoszcz in the first days of September 1939 and the invasion of the city by the army of the Third Reich. In the further part of the exhibition visitors can get acquainted with the repressions which fell upon the Polish and Jewish population in those dramatic moments. It focuses especially on the tragic fate of the last pre-war Mayor of the City, Leon Barciszewski, who was murdered in the first months of the war. The subsequent boards compare the life of Germans with the challenges of everyday life of Poles during the occupation. The important part of the exhibition is drawing attention to the underground fight of Bydgoszcz citizens against the Third Reich. The issues of the Second World War are concluded with the entry of Soviet and Polish soldiers into Bydgoszcz and the end of the German occupation in Bydgoszcz.

The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz and the Institute De Republica. The exhibition was presented during a scientific conference “September 1939. – Bydgoszcz Events”, which was held on 3 September 2021.