An Interrupted Childhood- Polish WWII survivors in Minnesota Virtual Opening

An Interrupted Childhood: Polish WWII survivors in Minnesota is a photographic tribute that launches at the Minnesota State Capitol on September 1, 2022. Meet: Adam, Anatol, Leonard, Magdalena, Maria, Walter, and Wiktor.

WWII shaped the course of Polish history in the 20th century and redefined its borders. It started in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union jointly invaded Poland. The two invaders effectively dismembered the country. Poland suffered immense losses; nearly six million Polish citizens.

During this phase of the Kalejdoskop Polski MN project, we collected the oral histories and photographs of Polish Minnesotans who have been through the horrors of the war: a forced laborer in the Third Reich, deportees to Siberia, a Polish Army Cadet, a Volhynia Massacre survivor, and a Holocaust survivor. These stories represent different fates of Poles during WWII. 

The Kalejdoskop project combines oral history interviews with documentary photography. Grzegorz Litynski www.litynski.com is the Lead Artist of the project. Grzegorz focuses his research and works on visual history and has conducted numerous research and collection projects in Europe, North America, and Asia. He is the Head of the Department of Travel, Documentary Photography, and Photojournalism at the Technical University in Katowice, Poland.

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Dr. Katarzyna Litak is the exhibitions curator, project manager, and graphic designer. She conducted oral history interviews for the project.

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Please contact office@pamsm.org in regards to Virtual Exhibition guided tours.

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The project has received grant support from the Minnesota Historical Society and the Metro Regional Arts Council.

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