The exhibition at the Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory (from 13 September) tells the stories of seven young Poles growing up under the Nazi occupation in Kraków (on 1 September 1939, they were aged between 13 and 16). The materials originate from the collections of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków and from previously unreleased family collections. All the young people featured in the exhibition were active in the Home Army. Other common motifs include carefree childhoods, youthful friendships, and the influence of family and upbringing on their life choices including the decision to dedicate themselves to serve Poland.
Regardless whether they entered armed combat or worked in underground logistics, the teenage heroes risked their lives as much as adults and frequently paid with their own lives. Although the recollections comprising the exhibition were collected many years after the war, they are invariably filled with emotions and the terror of war: arrests by gestapo officers, brutal interrogations, deportations to concentration camps, the toil of armed combat and the pain of losing friends and family. (Dorota Dziunikowska, “Karnet” monthly)
