On Sunday 24 October, the official inauguration of the Maczek Memorial Breda presenting the fate of the soldiers of the 1st Armoured Division and co-created by the Polish History Museum took place in the Dutch city.

The opening of the Maczek Memorial Breda, the centrepiece of which was the unveiling of a multimedia wall, took place as part of the celebrations marking the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Breda by the soldiers of Gen. Stanisław Maczek’s 1st Armoured Division. The Polish History Museum created the multimedia exposition, the main part of the permanent exhibition at the Breda memorial. The project was carried out in cooperation with the Breda-Polen 1939-1945 Foundation, responsible for the construction of the museum’s new headquarters, which began in May 2019.

‘I sincerely thank the creators of the exhibition, Director of the Polish History Museum Robert Kostro, as well as the entire Polish History Museum and everyone involved in the technical implementation of the project on the Dutch side. Thanks to your work, the memory of the heroism of Polish soldiers will not fade away and will remain alive among future generations of Dutch, Polish and international visitors to the Museum. I am also glad that it was the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport, which I have the honour to lead, that contributed financially to the creation of the exhibition,’ Professor Piotr Gliński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport wrote in his address read out by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Marcin Czepelak.

The programme of the celebrations included such events as a concert of a military orchestra from Żagań, a military parade, a concert ‘Longing for Poland’ and a ceremony of awarding distinctions to persons exceptionally involved in promoting the memory of the Polish liberators. As every year on the day marking the anniversary, inhabitants of Breda arrived in great numbers.

‘The Maczek Memorial Breda is an initiative carried out by the children and grandchildren of the liberated and the liberators, participants and witnesses of the glorious days of October 1944. […] I sincerely thank you for this initiative. I believe that I express gratitude not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of all Poles. Thank you Breda, thank you the Netherlands!’ said Robert Kostro, Director of the Polish History Museum.

‘The idea for the memorial was born during the creation of the mobile exhibition. We welcomed the result during the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the city, when your President was also our guest and visited the exhibition. Plans were also made to design and build a multimedia wall to bring to life the stories of some of the heroes who fought for our freedom. These initiatives are funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport. I am very happy to see the close family of the soldiers whose stories are told on the wall here among us today. The journey continues with more mutual visits and meeting new friends, e.g. Robert Kostro, Director of the Polish History Museum. I hope that the building of his museum will soon be completed and I understand that it will be somewhat larger than our Memorial,’ said Breda Mayor Paul Depla.

All the stories are composed of accounts of soldiers, read by voiceover artists and tell the successive stages of their wartime fate. Each passage is illustrated with photographs, including often previously unpublished photographs from family collections and war chronicles, more widely used so far only for the mobile exhibition General Stanisław Maczek and his Soldiers created by the Polish History Museum in 2019.

Work on the permanent exhibition of the Maczek Memorial Breda continued until mid-2020. An earlier unveiling of the multimedia wall was prevented by the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s ceremony is part of the celebrations of the liberation of Breda by soldiers of the 1st Armoured Division.

The Maczek Memorial Breda is part of a large international project by the Polish History Museum aimed at disseminating the history of the 1st Armoured Division, its another aspect being the mobile exhibition General Stanisław Maczek and his Soldiers, which has been shown, among others, in Warsaw, Breda, Wrocław and Gdynia. The project also includes an online exhibition Black Devils, available on the Google Arts & Culture platform, and two films: a documentary directed by Rafał Geremek Invincible. The Story of General Stanisław Maczek and a short film by Agata Mianowska Marian at War. An Animated Story of Marian Walentynowicz.

The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Marcin Czepelak, Director of the Polish History Museum Robert Kostro, President of the Maczek Memorial Breda Richard Tieskens, Mayor of Breda Paul Depla, Armed Forces General Commander Lt Gen. Jarosław Mika, Vice-Mayor of Wrocław Jakub Mazur, and General Piotr Trytek, Commander of the 11th Cavalry Division.

Substantive elaboration of the multimedia wall: Polish History Museum
Collaboration: City of Breda, Maczek Memorial Breda, Foundation Breda-Polen 1939-1945
The multimedia wall was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture National Heritage and Sport.
Artistic concept of the multimedia wall, executive design and execution: Kinkorn bv, Kloosterboer Decor bv, Kiss the Frog bv, Klevr Sounddesign