And tomorrow is unknown...

Tour reservations for groups:

tel. 605 049 709

Ewa Kuberna – curator of the exhibition

tel. 15 842 08 86

Rev. Edward Madej

Pastor of the Parish of Our Lady Queen of Poland

prelate of the Cathedral Chapter in Stalowa Wola

Exhibition address:

John Paul II Museum

Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszki St. 4

37-450 Stalowa Wola

Exhibition description: And Tomorrow is Unknown. Underground Solidarity in Stalowa Wola 1982-1989.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition was held under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda. The history of Stalowa Wola Solidarity is one of the key events not only in the history of the city. This is because it was here that the events affecting the political transformation of 1989 in Poland took place. The exhibition recalls those times and people. The title of the exhibition is a quote from a song – the Solidarity anthem of 1980: Solidarni, ours is this day/ and tomorrow is unknown/ but let us do as if ours is the age/ under the free country peacefully lay the foundation… It is no coincidence that this exhibition is located in a parish building, also housing the John Paul II Museum. For the Stalowa Wola Solidarity, born and active in the Steelworks and other workplaces, from the beginning, through the years of martial law, until the changes of 1989, found shelter and support in the Church: on a global scale thanks to the election of the Cracow Archbishop Karol Wojtyla to the See of Peter, and on a local, Stalowa Wola scale, thanks to the attitude of Fr. Edward Frankowski, pastor of the parish of Our Lady Queen of Poland, supported by Bishop Ignacy Tokarczuk, Ordinary of the Diocese of Przemyśl, to which Stalowa Wola belonged at the time.

The exhibition recalls the not insignificant participation of Stalowa Wola in the “Solidarity” movement, which, without resorting to violence, brought freedom to Poland and half of Europe, separated by the “Iron Curtain” from the free world. The main purpose of the exhibition is to show in photographs, documents, and film footage the activities of the underground Solidarity movement, in many dimensions, which led to the great Stalowa Wola strike of 1988. It lasted 11 days, brought together a few thousand workers (of an armaments plant, subjected to special rigors) and many more supporting the city’s residents. The strike at the Stalowa Wola Steelworks tipped the scales of protests undertaken in the country, ended with a triumphant march through the city and contributed to the Round Table talks. The exhibition shows memorabilia, documents, photographs from 1980-1989 in artistically arranged interiors, referring to the realities of those places and those times.

The decoration of the exhibition halls brings to mind authentic places, important for those events in Stalowa Wola: the tool shop hall at HSW, the apartment of oppositionists, the prison cell, the Pastoral Christian Culture Center, the strike space. And the thoughtful sound arrangement in the various parts of the exhibition creates an unusual atmosphere.

Among the artifacts gathered at the exhibition, in addition to valuable documents, photographs, underground press, stamps-coins, etc.., There are such unusual items as a rosary made of bread on a thread from a prison blanket, made by an arrested Stalowa Wola underground activist, crosses and other souvenirs handmade by internees in detention centers, a prison shirt with “Solidarity” embroidered on it, and even an authentic prison metal plate decorated with an occasional inscription from cellmates for an internee who was… married in Załęż prison!

Recorded with a camera and played on a touchscreen, short stories of many participants in underground activities recall the most interesting events, sometimes very personal, sometimes unusual, poignant… In a separate cinema room, documentary films about the Stalowa Wola opposition are shown. And Stalowa Wola opposition is too little known so far, but an extremely interesting and important card from the recent history of Poland.

The idea of the exhibition

Bishop Edward Frankowski

Lucyna Mizera

Organizer:

Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola

Partners:

John Paul II Museum in Stalowa Wola, KZ MOZ NSZZ “Solidarność” Huta Stalowa, Board of the Sandomierz Land Region NSZZ “Solidarność”, “Solidarni Stalowa Wola” Foundation, European Solidarity Center in Gdańsk

Curator:

Ewa Kuberna

Scenario:

Anna Garbacz

Cooperation:

Aneta Garanty, Mariusz Nowak, Paweł Szegda, Joanna Wójcik, Dr. Magdalena Bąk-Wołoszyn (Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola)

Andrzej Kaczmarek, Henryk Szostak (NSZZ Solidarność)

Grzegorz Prokop, Jarosław Surdyka (MDK in Stalowa Wola)

Graphic design:

Koza Nostra Studio

Additional information:

Aneta Garanty e-mail: agaranty@muzeum.stalowawola.pl

The project received funding from the Museum of Polish History under the “Patriotism of Tomorrow” program, from the budget of Stalowa Wola Municipality and Stalowa Wola County.