During the opening ceremony of the Battle of Warsaw (1920) Museum in Ossów, the head of the National Security Bureau (BBN) recalled a disgraceful event from 15 years ago. “Who came up with the idea that on this very day, on the day of Polish glory, a great Catholic holiday, we should honor the memory of the invaders of 1920? I mention this as a kind of memento, of how false politics can lead to false history,” said Sławomir Cenckiewicz.
At 1:00 p.m. the opening ceremony of the Warsaw Battle Museum 1920 in Ossów began.
The symbolic memorial complex is located on a 17-meter-high hill, at the foot of which stand two 70-meter masts with white-and-red banners. The building is reached via the 500-meter-long Avenue of Victory. The permanent exhibition, spread across two floors, covers 1,000 square meters. It presents dozens of unique artifacts from the Polish Army Museum as well as exhibits collected by the local institution Ossów – Gateway to the Battle of Warsaw (1920) Museum.
The exhibition includes, among others, uniforms and weapons from both sides of the conflict, including a French de Bange siege cannon, as well as Polish and Bolshevik leaflets and propaganda posters. Four exhibition modules “will offer a modern, multimedia presentation of history, combining archival film, photographs, and documents with sound and specially composed music.”
Who was absent from the ceremony
During the ceremony, Prof. Sławomir Cenckiewicz, head of the National Security Bureau, took the floor.
Cenckiewicz praised Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia for a “wonderful historical lecture.” “I am glad this museum was created, and I welcome what Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said – that this museum is the work of at least two governments, at least several political formations. The initiators were Minister Antoni Macierewicz and Minister Michał Dworczyk. They should have been invited here. The most important thing is that the Prime Minister mentioned his predecessors. The work continued during Mariusz Błaszczak’s tenure at the Ministry of National Defence,” he pointed out.
“I know the whole toil of creating this museum. I was a member of the Council of the Polish Army Museum, a member of the Program Council of the Warsaw Battle Museum, and at a certain point I felt that the museum was in very serious trouble. The fact that these difficulties were overcome is a great success for Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz, but the person who showed the greatest persistence to make this museum a reality was Mr. Czesław Bielecki, and he deserves great applause,” he added.
A pan-Polish museum of the Battle of Warsaw (1920)
Cenckiewicz referred to Kosiniak-Kamysz’s words that “every museum should live.”
“Objectively, in the case of this museum, it is difficult, because there is an idea that must be realized. The museum is far from the center, and we must bring it to life in such a way that it is visible from the perspective of the capital. I would like this museum, as a museum of Polish victory, to be the perfect place for Polish officers to take their military oaths or receive their general promotions, for it to live with the life of the Polish Army,” he observed.
“I like this museum because it has a pan-Polish character, a collective effort. This is not a museum of Marshal Piłsudski, but I saw generals – Sosnkowski, Haller, Jordan-Rozwadowski – and that is what is wonderful here: to highlight the collective effort of the nation and our commanders, who won the war of 1920,” he stressed.
Cenckiewicz also pointed to the contribution of people connected with the region, “madmen of memory,” reenactors, and clergy.
A deranged idea
“I mention this in order to disturb the atmosphere of this beautiful ceremony, an atmosphere of joy and happiness. Neither interwar Poland built such a museum, nor could it have been built under the PRL, but free Poland after 1989 needed 36 years to establish such a museum. Glory to those thanks to whom it was built. I also say this in the context that before this museum was even conceived in the minds of those who pushed for its creation, someone had the deranged idea of building a mausoleum to the invaders advancing on Warsaw in 1920, on the field of a victorious battle, one of Poland’s greatest successes. When we go outside, on the right we will see a monument and the grave of Red Army soldiers. They were not all found on these fields, but in 2010, as part of the policy of love, the policy of reset, they were politically moved here and buried,” recalled Sławomir Cenckiewicz.
“Do you know which day was chosen for the opening of this mausoleum – August 15, 2010. Who came up with the idea that on this very day, on the day of Polish glory, a great Catholic holiday, we should honor the memory of the invaders of 1920? I mention this as a memento of how false politics can lead to false history. I accuse no one, for I do not see here the fathers of this disgraceful enterprise. I believe it is an example of how in the times before 2014, and certainly before February 2022, we lost our way, that we were capable of such gestures towards those who invoked the tradition of the march on Warsaw in 1920. Today I believe that as we stand here, celebrating the opening of the museum, we not only honor the defenders of the homeland, but together – even though we will see this monument to Soviet soldiers – we draw a very sharp line between what was in 1920 and what is in 2025: the defense of civilization, the defense of Poland, the Polish state, human rights, democracy, and what is barbarism, Soviet, Bolshevik, now Russian – what is the enslavement and death of nations,” he added.