Poles by choice. Families of German descent in Warsaw in the 19th and 20th century

EXHIBITION AT THE HISTORY MEETING HOUSE (HMH)

26  JANUARY  – 28 MARCH 2010
HMH, 20 KAROWA STREET, WARSAW

The exhibition is devoted to the history of the Warsaw community of German origin in the 19th and 20th century. Most photographs and documents coming from Warsaw museums, archives and family collections are presented for the first time.

Germans were present in Warsaw from the beginning of the city’s existence, and their migration intensified in the 18th century (when representatives of the Saxon House of Wettin ascended the Polish throne) and the 19th century. Warsaw – unlike Łódź or Katowice which had a tightly-knit and organized German minority until 1945 – was a city where strangers from Germany quickly blended in with the Polish people and voluntarily became Poles and native residents of Warsaw. The exhibition presents the contribution which the immigrants of German descent have made into the development of architecture, industry, science and culture of the Polish capital. It depicts the process of gradual and voluntary assimilation of the families who not only have rendered great services to the city with their daily work but also have a beautiful record of solidarity with Polish national aspirations (the struggle for independence in World War I, during the occupation and the Warsaw Uprising).

Tomasz Markiewicz, curator of the exhibition: “The tragic developments of the 20th century, and especially the German occupation during World War II, have pushed the fact that Warsaw had been a multicultural city where different nationalities coexisted peacefully for ages into the background of the awareness of native residents of Warsaw. The exhibition recalls those forgotten pages of Warsaw’s history, shows Germans who have been coming to Warsaw for the past 200 years not in the uniforms of hostile armies but voluntarily and with peaceful intentions. I need to say that the descendants of the German families now living in Warsaw have been of great assistance to us in the preparation of the exhibition."

 
The exhibition will be accompanies by a series of events: meetings with the descendants of these families, “A walk in Warsaw by the German path,” documentary shows, educational workshops for youth, book promotions, and discussions.

The exhibition, staged under the patronage of the President of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, has been co-organized by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation (FPGC).

Authors of the exhibition: Tomasz Markiewicz – FPGC – a historian, researcher of the history of Warsaw (author of exhibitions “The steadfastness of tenement houses” 2005, “A quarter of a century for Warsaw” 2006, “The return of the city. Zielna 37 and its vicinity – yesterday, today, tomorrow” 2006); Tadeusz Władysław Świątek, a researcher of the history of Warsaw families, author of many books on this subject and of the exhibition “Evangelicals in the history of Warsaw;” Krzysztof Wittels – Our Norblin Association – an ethnologist related to the family of Werner and Schuch (author of the exhibitions “The birth of modern Warsaw,” “A major change – 190 years of the Warsaw Stock Exchange”) conducting a series of meetings on “The great families of industrial Warsaw” at the HMH.