Exhibition
Exhibitions "I love you, see you soon..." and "Nowy Sącz in the frame (1939-1945)"
In connection with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, we have prepared two temporary exhibitions for you, available simultaneously in the Main Building of the Museum at 56 Jagiellońska Street.
The first one, entitled "I love you, see you soon...", was borrowed from the Central Prisoners of War Museum in Opole. It was prepared by employees of the Scientific Department: Dr. Anna Czerner and Dr. Kamil Weber.
The exhibition touches on the little-known and surprisingly complex topic of love in times of war captivity. The authors focused on couples and their long-term dilemmas and the emotions that accompany them: longing, care, fear for the fate of the other person, fear of what the next day will bring and whether the feeling will survive the test of time.
The exhibition presents various love stories for which the point of reference is the period of captivity spent in POW camps. The couples themselves tell about it - through fragments of letters and memories as well as numerous photographs and museum exhibits. A large group consists of personal items with a sentimental tone - mascots, jewelry or everyday objects made with the other, beloved person in mind. It is about romantic ecstasies and feelings unshaken even by several years of isolation, as well as betrayals, separations, misunderstandings, and finally – love ending in death.
The presentation of the issue does not lack difficult and non-obvious topics: loneliness, emancipation or feelings for the enemy. They are accompanied by commentary: historical, sociological and psychological. This is necessary to understand with greater empathy how the challenges of war forever changed women who were left to their own devices and men isolated in POW camps.
The authors tell of the colorful emotional relationships between prisoners and women – those waiting for their return (wives, fiancées, girlfriends), those they met only during their captivity, and also those with whom they probably should never have had a relationship.
The stories of famous people appear here (e.g. Konstanty I. Gałczyński), but above all, people whose fates the authors extracted from family archives thanks to cooperation with children or grandchildren of former prisoners.
The exhibition touches on the little-known and surprisingly complex topic of love in times of war captivity. The authors focused on couples and their long-term dilemmas and the emotions that accompany them: longing, care, fear for the fate of the other person, fear of what the next day will bring and whether the feeling will survive the test of time.
The exhibition presents various love stories for which the point of reference is the period of captivity spent in POW camps. The couples themselves tell about it - through fragments of letters and memories as well as numerous photographs and museum exhibits. A large group consists of personal items with a sentimental tone - mascots, jewelry or everyday objects made with the other, beloved person in mind. It is about romantic ecstasies and feelings unshaken even by several years of isolation, as well as betrayals, separations, misunderstandings, and finally – love ending in death.
The presentation of the issue does not lack difficult and non-obvious topics: loneliness, emancipation or feelings for the enemy. They are accompanied by commentary: historical, sociological and psychological. This is necessary to understand with greater empathy how the challenges of war forever changed women who were left to their own devices and men isolated in POW camps.
The authors tell of the colorful emotional relationships between prisoners and women – those waiting for their return (wives, fiancées, girlfriends), those they met only during their captivity, and also those with whom they probably should never have had a relationship.
The stories of famous people appear here (e.g. Konstanty I. Gałczyński), but above all, people whose fates the authors extracted from family archives thanks to cooperation with children or grandchildren of former prisoners.
The subject of the second exhibition entitled "Nowy Sącz in the frame (1939-1945)" should be of particular interest to the residents of Nowy Sącz. The exhibition will bring closer the image of the city during World War II and just after its end.
We will present you with archival photographs of Nowy Sącz from the period of German occupation presenting selected streets of the city, including Jagiellońska, Lwowska, including the area of the open ghetto, the Market Square and the area of the ghetto in the center.
Archival photographs from the period of German occupation taken between December 1939 and 1941 and documenting war damage after the castle was blown up were juxtaposed with photographs from the 1950s, thanks to which viewers will be able to follow the changing image of the city over the course of 20 years and compare it to the one known today.
The extent of the destruction caused by the blowing up of the castle – the seat of the Sądecka Land Museum – on 18 January 1945 is documented by photographs taken in the area of Romanowskiego, Pijarska, Franciszkańska, Kazimierza Wielkiego, Berka Joselewicza, Plac 3 maja, Tymowskiego, Piotra Skargi, Bożnicza streets.
The exhibition also presents selected photographs from the summer competition for the most interesting shop windows, which was held in the spring of 1941. The action was carried out during the occupation on the initiative of the Merchant Guild and the School of Commerce under the direction of Romuald Reguła. The competition was attended by young people from the High School of Commerce.
The exhibition ends with photographs taken after the Red Army entered the city, from the unveiling of the monument to Soviet soldiers in December 1945, and the ceremonial display of the monument to Władysław Jagiełło in the market square, which returned in 1945 to its original place on the elevation of the cut corner of the tenement house between Jagiellońska and Szwedzka streets.
Most of the photographs used to prepare the exhibition come from the collections of the Archives of the Museum of the Sądecka Region. These include:
- selected photographs from the 1941 Summer Exhibition Windows Competition,
- photographs from the album of customs secretary (Zollsekretär) Greiner, who served in the German customs and border guard (Zollgrenzschutz) in the Sądecczyzna region in 1939-1940 (the purchase for the MZS Archive was made possible thanks to the help of Dr. Dawid Golik from the Institute of National Remembrance),
- photographic documentation of war damage – the ruins of the castle and neighbouring buildings, which was most probably taken in late spring 1945, some later, their author was probably Józef Gawłowski. The prints were donated by engineer Kazimierz Górski in 1951
In addition, a series of photographs taken probably between 1939-1941 in the area of Pijarska, Kazimierza Wielkiego, Franciszkańska, Berka Joselewicza, Tymowskiego, Piotra Skargi and Bożnicza streets was used from the collections of the Jagiellonian University Archives, and a fold-out panorama of the city of Nowy Sącz was used from the National Archives in Kraków, Nowy Sącz branch.
We will present you with archival photographs of Nowy Sącz from the period of German occupation presenting selected streets of the city, including Jagiellońska, Lwowska, including the area of the open ghetto, the Market Square and the area of the ghetto in the center.
Archival photographs from the period of German occupation taken between December 1939 and 1941 and documenting war damage after the castle was blown up were juxtaposed with photographs from the 1950s, thanks to which viewers will be able to follow the changing image of the city over the course of 20 years and compare it to the one known today.
The extent of the destruction caused by the blowing up of the castle – the seat of the Sądecka Land Museum – on 18 January 1945 is documented by photographs taken in the area of Romanowskiego, Pijarska, Franciszkańska, Kazimierza Wielkiego, Berka Joselewicza, Plac 3 maja, Tymowskiego, Piotra Skargi, Bożnicza streets.
The exhibition also presents selected photographs from the summer competition for the most interesting shop windows, which was held in the spring of 1941. The action was carried out during the occupation on the initiative of the Merchant Guild and the School of Commerce under the direction of Romuald Reguła. The competition was attended by young people from the High School of Commerce.
The exhibition ends with photographs taken after the Red Army entered the city, from the unveiling of the monument to Soviet soldiers in December 1945, and the ceremonial display of the monument to Władysław Jagiełło in the market square, which returned in 1945 to its original place on the elevation of the cut corner of the tenement house between Jagiellońska and Szwedzka streets.
Most of the photographs used to prepare the exhibition come from the collections of the Archives of the Museum of the Sądecka Region. These include:
- selected photographs from the 1941 Summer Exhibition Windows Competition,
- photographs from the album of customs secretary (Zollsekretär) Greiner, who served in the German customs and border guard (Zollgrenzschutz) in the Sądecczyzna region in 1939-1940 (the purchase for the MZS Archive was made possible thanks to the help of Dr. Dawid Golik from the Institute of National Remembrance),
- photographic documentation of war damage – the ruins of the castle and neighbouring buildings, which was most probably taken in late spring 1945, some later, their author was probably Józef Gawłowski. The prints were donated by engineer Kazimierz Górski in 1951
In addition, a series of photographs taken probably between 1939-1941 in the area of Pijarska, Kazimierza Wielkiego, Franciszkańska, Berka Joselewicza, Tymowskiego, Piotra Skargi and Bożnicza streets was used from the collections of the Jagiellonian University Archives, and a fold-out panorama of the city of Nowy Sącz was used from the National Archives in Kraków, Nowy Sącz branch.
