Other

Conference Ocalić wypędzonych

In 2014, at the offices of Pruszków County, a conference was organized by the Dulag 121 Museum, entitled: “Ocalić wypędzonych. Pomoc mieszkańców Pruszkowa i okolicznych miejscowości więźniom obozu przejściowego Durchgangslager (Dulag) 121. Sierpień 1944 – styczeń 1945”. In English: “Saving the expellees. How the inhabitants of Pruszków and nearby towns helped the prisoners of transit camp Durchgangslager (Dulag) 121: August 1944–January 1945”. During the two days of the conference we listened to a total of 32 reports based on research and the testimonies of witnesses and their families concerning the various forms of aid provided to the prisoners of the transit camp Dulag 121 by the townspeople of Pruszków and its neighbours – namely, Brwinów, Podkowa Leśna, Milanówek, Błonie, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and Łowicz. In addition to witnesses of those tragic events, we also had the honor of hosting historians and researchers from such institutions as the Modern Documents Archives, the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the Institute of Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the State Archives in Warsaw, and the Polish Red Cross, as well as representatives of associations dealing with local history. We published a selection of the messages and testimonies presented at the conference in the 1st issue of the Bulletin of the Dulag 121 Museum.

The Laboratory for theater-based activities – Pruszków

For the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising and the founding of the transit camp Dulag 121, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, we completed the project “Laboratory for theater-based activities – Pruszków”, i.e., the first street performance in Pruszków. The aim of the project was to create a formula encouraging young people to join the anniversary celebrations. Between August and December 2014, under the guidance of experienced animators and theater educators, we held theater and journalism workshops for Pruszków’s high school students, the outcome of which was a performance staged in Pruszków, dedicated to the fate of the prisoners of the transit camp Dulag 121. Workshop participants published blog-reports on their experience on a daily basis. The project was coordinated by Agata Gołąb. For more information on the project go to its website.

March of Remembrance

On September 7, 2014, as part of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, a March of Remembrance was held in the former transit camp Dulag 121. By organizing the reconstruction of the arrival of the expellees to the camp in 1944, we wanted to pay tribute to the expellees and to portray for today’s people of Pruszków the difficult fate that awaited Warsaw’s refugees at Dulag 121. The scenario was based on the recorded stories and testimonies of witnesses – namely, the people driven from Warsaw and the persons assisting them in the camp. The march was attended by 210 people, including both professional restorers from all over Poland, as well as volunteers from Pruszków and the surrounding towns, including those who as children were held at the camp in 1944.

Ścieżki Historii – a competition for middle school

In 2014, with financial support from the Museum of Polish History, the Dulag 121 Museum conducted a competition for middle schools in Pruszków County (Powiat), entitled Ścieżki Historii [Paths of History]. Teams of students were to design attractive walking paths, presenting interesting places associated with the history of the villages from Pruszków County. The form of the routes and the tasks that participants were supposed to do were inspired by questing, geocaching, and outdoor games. There are 10 paths – namely, in the towns of Brwinów, Otrębusy, Nadarzyn, Nowa Wieś, Pruszków, Piastów, and Raszyn. The outcome of the competition is the publication “Ścieżki Historii. Niezwyczajny przewodnik po miejscowościach Powiatu Pruszkowskiego” [“Paths of History: An unusual guide to the towns of Pruszków County”, which is available in electronic form free of charge at the Museum’s website.