The exhibition displays 33 works of Polish artists, made in various graphic techniques and presenting the creators’ various approaches to the issues of war, death, extermination and camps.

Majdanek is a special place in the history of Poland and Europe, a symbol of times of political, religious and cultural intolerance, the moral decline of civilization, and at the same time a place of historical education, memory and reconciliation.

Drawings created in the camp constitute the rudiments of the artistic collections of the State Museum at Majdanek. Despite the fact that, with regard to their artistic value, they may be denied titles of works of art, the sketches – often made on scraps of paper – are an authentic testimony of the war. As Grzegorz Timofiejew, a prisoner of concentration camps, writes:

„Strange, incomprehensible... Art in the camps coexisted with the crime and developed against logic. Because, indeed, it became a powerful force of resistance against terror, it saved prisoners from utter beastliness, it aroused faith in man and the indestructibility of human ideals.”

Bearing in mind the enormous importance of art, its impact and timeless, universal character, the museum, as early as in the 1960s, began organizing art exhibitions under the title „Against War”. The events enabled artists from Poland, and later also from all over the world, to manifest humanism as well as to object to all threats evoked by hatred, xenophobia and intolerance. The fruit of this activity is the creation of a collection of contemporary art on martyrdom and anti-war themes that has no equivalent in the world.

Our collections of contemporary art are essentially devoted to the victims of Hitlerite cruelty, men of struggle, the murdered and the survivors, as well as to armed conflicts and various forms of discrimination. Often enough, they are works of the highest value, carrying the most complicated reflections on the world and intended for contemplation. They create the image of all human culture, human consciousness, human fears and hopes.

The spectator will be able to view works treating the martyrdom theme literally – by Jerzy Jędrysiak, Mirosław Piotrowski, Andrzej Kowalczyk, as well as works on existential problems presented in subtly muted forms – by Stanisław Bałdyga, Grzegorz Mazurek, and Andrzej Łabuz. The exhibition also displays graphics by Alina Jackiewicz-Kaczmarek and Monika Pietsch (in which the pursuit of synthetic, generalizing and non-drastic presentations can be seen) as well as the works of Ryszard Otręba, Józef Drążkiewicz and Maciej Piotrowski, which present motifs associated with the camp: barbed wire, striped uniform or prisoner marking – a triangle. Other authors, such as Zbigniew Lutomski, Małgorzata Gurowska and Tomasz Kukawski, refrain from the poetics of shouting or silence in favor of content and form.

The undoubted advantage of art is freedom of creative expression. Art reflects acceptance of the world or is an act of discord. It can be perceived universally above all language, cultural and civilization barriers, therefore its role and meaning cannot be taken for granted.

Concept of the exhibition: Marta Jabłońska
Editing and proofreading: Dorota Niedziałkowska
Translation: Lech Remiszewski
Graphic design: Ewelina Kruszewska
Language: Polish, English
The date of the exhibition, venue: since September 28, 2019 to July 17, 2020 (Visitor Service Centre)