Our last stop of free museum day was the WWII History Museum. Housed in a really cool building within site of the water. This building rises 4 or 5 levels into the air with an entire wall of glass, so we were disappointed when we realized that the entire museum was underground on -3 level. Oh, how wrong we were!
Spreading out way beyond the footprint of the building above, this museum strives to educate visitors about the political climate in the entire world (including Japan) in the years leading up to the war, before introducing the first battle of the war (which happened just outside of Gdańsk).
So we learn about the rise of totalitarianism in Germany and Italy. We're shown how a socialist-leaning government in Spain is crushed by Franco. And we're shown how, far to the East, Russian Imperialism was crushed and ultimately replaced with with Communism -- a school of thought diametrically opposed to the ideals sweeping through Germany.
They then take us through the beginning of the war, the expansion of the Reich, relocation of the Jews into first the ghettos and then into the concentration camps, the battles, the ending of the war in Europe and the discovery of the camps, and postwar efforts toward normalization of life.
And they attempt this ambitious goal with such style! We walked through gallery after amazingly innovative gallery. Most of the time I was awestruck and didn't remember to take photos.
There were countless alcoves with videos playing with survivors speaking. There were walls of tin ID tags of slave workers. There were walls of headshots of people who died in camps. There was a tank in pristine new condition, and a tank staged in a bombed out cityscape
There were propaganda posters in countless languages aimed at audiences in every country in Europe. Those Nazi bastards were masters of marketing!
Sad fact: Poland experienced 5.7 million civilian casualties during the war.
But by the last 20% of the war I was totally exhausted. Just as I experienced in Krakow, I reached a level of satiation where I just couldn't read one more horrible story. So I blew through the exhibits and sat outside the museum shop waiting for Rebecca.
So many people exiting were talking about how moving the museum is -- not only for the information presented, but the method of presentation as well.
This museum is a must-see in Gdańsk!