An exhibition entitled “When the days are fulfilled … Burials of Polish defenders of Westerplatte” has been opened at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. The exhibition presents the profiles of 9 soldiers who died during the defense of the Military Transit Depot, whose remains were found during archaeological excavations in 2019.
The opening of the exhibition took place as part of the 82nd anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The ceremony was attended by employees of the museum and representatives of the families of the fallen Westerplatians and the Institute of National Remembrance.
As emphasized by the Director of the Museum of the Second World War, Grzegorz Berendt, the exhibition was the result of the work of museum archaeologists who had conducted research at Westerplatte.
“During the 7 seasons of archaeological research, tens of thousands of objects have been discovered. Today we want to show a part of what has been established. More objects will be presented in autumn next year when part of the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Westerplatte and the War of 1939 will be opened in the building of the former power plant of the Military Transit Depot,” he said.
He explained that the next stage of excavations will be carried out on the Gdańsk peninsula from October.
“It gives us hope that we will find more defenders. Perhaps we will also find the graves of prisoners who worked on the peninsula from September 8, 1939, for the next two years. Some of them were murdered and buried there,” he added.
The title of the exhibition refers to the poem by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński “Song about the Soldiers of Westerplatte”.