Prisoners of stalags, oflags and the Majdanek camp and Lublin Castle referred to her as ‘Aunt Antonina’ or ‘Dear Mother,’ whereas for habitants of Lublin she was known as a patriotic and social activist, whose social activity was honoured by naming one of the streets of the city after her. Family of Antonina Grygowa, who has been mentioned above, donated to our Museum almost 200 secret messages sent to her.

During the ceremony of the 75th anniversary of the prisoners’ uprising at the German Nazi death camp in Sobibór, the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta will be posthumously awarded to Lejba (Leon) Felhendler, one of the two leaders of the uprising at the camp.

Germans erected the death camp facility approximately five kilometers from the village of Sobibór, in the area adjacent to the nearby railway station.

The daughter of former prisoner of KL Lublin Prof. Romuald Sztaba, Ewa Sztaba-Chmielarz, has donated valuable documents and memorabilia belonging to her father to the State Museum at Majdanek. They include notebooks with professor’s hand-written notes, his arrest warrant or his wristwatch that had never parted with. The donation took place on 12 September 2018 during one of the meetings in the series, Majdanek in Family Memory.

Saturnina Malm (1907-1982) is yet another one ‘quiet heroine’ who was inextricably bounded with occupied Lublin. She was an extremely interesting, multifaceted and fierce figure. A woman of great courage and inner strength who pursued her goal wilfully.

At the end of July 2018, further conservation works were completed, involving objects coming from excavations on the premises of the former German Nazi death camp in Sobibór.

On the first days of November 2017 a temporary exhibition of Józef Richter’s works was opened in the Visitor Service Centre of the State Museum at Majdanek. It was prepared by Krzysztof Banach and Lech Remiszewski. The exhibition consisted of 18 drawings which are stored at the Ghetto Fighters' House in Israel and illustrate crimes committed on Jews by Germans in the Lublin region in the years 1942–1944.

Collection of modern art at the State Museum at Majdanek includes works by Polish and foreign artists, such as paintings, graphics, sketches, sculptures, medals, photographs, art posters. The majority of them is devoted to martyrgom and anti-war themes. The collection is a result of many competitions and art exhibitions organized by the Museum, which were firstly entitled "Against War," then "International Triennal of Art at Majdanek."

The prisoners of Majdanek were required to adhere to multiple procedures associated with arriving at the camp. They were obligated to deposit their clothes and personal belongings which were stored in the movable property file (Effekten-Verzeichnis). A separate file was intended for accounting sums of money deposited by prisoners. As a valuable source material, it can be used to recreate fates of the camp prisoners.

A substantial part of the collections discovered during archaeological excavations in Sobibór is constituted by everyday objects, including residues from personal hygiene products such as: toothbrushes, empty tubes of toothpaste or shaving cream and the like.

A significant part of the Sobibór collection is constituted by personal belongings brought by prisoners to the camp, including a few remaining fragments of fountain pens.

Among many iron items found during archaeological excavations in Sobibór, a small plate with an inscription “Tragerplatte” can be found. This inconspicuous item constituted a part of a tourist portable cooker which was popular during World War II. A small, compact metallic box contained a package of fuel tablets which, after displacement of support partitions (from German “Tragerplatte”), formed a cooking facility.

The collection of contemporary art of the State Museum at Majdanek is closely connected with its history and character. The museum has been storing works of modern art since it was founded in November 1944.

June 9, 1987, is one of the most significant dates in the history of the State Museum at Majdanek. On that day the former German Nazi concentration camp at Majdanelk was visited by Pope John Paul II.

Krzysztof and Andrzej Korczak from Warsaw donated to the State Museum at Majdanek the family records dedicated to their grandmother, Dr. Stefania Perzanowska. She was one of the most merited prisoners of the Majdanek concentration camp, where she set up a camp hospital for female patients. The collection includes more than 500 original documents dated from 1911 to 1974, relics and 15 scans of photographs.

Lublin played a special role in the “final solution of the Jewish question.” It served as the command and logistics centre for the "Aktion Reinhardt" aimed at the liquidation of the Jews in General Government. Odilo Globocnik, the SS and police commander in the Lublin district, was responsible for its implementation. His tasks included establishing death camps, deporting Jews and taking over their property in favour of the Third Reich.

This publication documents an open-air exhibition organized by the State Museum at Majdanek in 2012 to mark the 70th anniversary of Jews extermination in the course of “Aktion Reinhardt.”

The code name "Operation Reinhardt” was used in the context of the Holocaust not earlier then by June 1942, when the extermination of Jews had already been lasting. It was introduced to pay tribute to Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and one of the main executors of the plan to exterminate all Jews being under German control, who was shot by the Czech resistance movement.

Marking the 75th anniversary of the liquidation of the German ghettos for Jews in Lublin, the exhibition “Districts of Extermination” consists of 15 display boards. They are located in the area of the Old Town where one of the two “Jewish residential districts” existed in the occupied city. The exhibition presents photographs and historical documents from Polish and foreign archives, as well as private collections and fragments of accounts.

A spoon, a metal camp number, fragments of matzevots – these are some of the objects which were found by the staff of Collections Department as a result of periodic inspections of the grounds of the State Museum at Majdanek. During such works about 50 objects related to functioning of the Majdanek concentration camp were found in 2016.

The collections of the State Museum at Majdanek were enriched with extremely interesting and valuable materials relating to Helena Pawluk née Błeszyńska, a former prisoner of the Majdanek concentration camp and the prison at the Lublin Castle. The donated collection includes documents, photographs and personal items belonging to Helena Pawluk. Her grandson, Mr. Wojciech Pawluk, is the donor.

In the historical archives of the State Museum at Majdanek, there is a certain highly interesting collection, which stands out from the other materials documenting the history of KL Lublin in terms of both its form and content.

The National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps is celebrated on 14 June. On that day, the Polish Association of Former Political Prisoners of Nazi Prisons and Concentration Camps marks its 70th anniversary. The meeting will be an opportunity to recall the activities of the Association for the inhabitants of Lublin who were repressed by the Germans during World War II.

In early spring 1942, before the first mass transport of Jews from Slovakia arrived to the concentration camp at Majdanek, the camp administration received special forms for the inventory of the prisoners’ belongings, including civil clothing, daily necessities and valuables.