For 75 years, exceptional and moving memorabilia of people imprisoned in the German Nazi concentration camp have been sent to the Archives of the State Museum at Majdanek. Former prisoners or their families provide the Museum with the most valuable family treasures attesting to their internment in the camp, and often to their tragic death in KL Lublin.

A unique part of museum collections also includes documents, personal belongings and photographs from pre-war and post-war times. After their initial protection, as well as careful conservation, they become valuable artefacts used in exhibitions and educational activities. Thanks to them, the story of the prisoners becomes more complete, both for researchers and recipients of the museum message.

For several years, the Museum has been presenting profiles of the prisoners as part of the series ”Majdanek in family memory“. During the meetings, their families often decide to donate to us priceless memorabilia. In the years 2017–2018 alone, over 1,000 original documents, photographs and artefacts were passed over to the Museum. Some of them included donations from the relatives of: Antonina Grygowa, a well-known Lublin activist providing aid to prisoners; Stefania Perzanowska, a doctor and creator of the infirmary (the camp hospital) for women; Jan Klonowski, a doctor who, as a prisoner of Majdanek, organized the camp’s pharmacy and Kurt Wojciech Szczudło, a teacher and translator. The exhibition tells the stories of these exceptional people.

Concept of the exhibition: Joanna Cieślik, Anna Wójcik, Marta Grudzińska, Izabela Tomasiewicz, Dorota Niedziałkowska
Editing and proofreading: Dorota Niedziałkowska, Emilia Skowron
Translation: Lech Remiszewski
Graphic design: Izabela Tomasiewicz
Language versions: Polish, English
Venue: Visitor Service Centre
The date of the exhibition: July 20 – August 25, 2019