The Museum of the Second World War

This is the first Polish World War II museum, located near the place of the first clash between Polish and German forces during the Invasion of Poland. Its construction took four-and-a-half years and cost over EUR 100 million (PLN 426 million). The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk boasts some 2,500 exhibits as well as 250 multimedia stations, which allows visitors to browse through archival photos, films, and maps. The Advisory Board consists of many excellent historians, among them prof. Norman Davies, British Academy who has been serving as its chairman since June 2009.

The Museum of the Second World War is located in the proximity of Westerplatte, famous for the Battle of Westerplatte, which was the first clash between Polish and German forces during the Invasion of Poland and thus the first battle of the European theatre of WWII. Westerplatte is believed to be the place where the war began but the Germans first attacked a city of Weluń located over 400 km from Gdańsk.

Westerplatte is well known as the most important place of the second world war`s history, it was earlier the resort which had been established on the Westerplatte peninsula around 1830. It had a beach, a forested park, an ocean-side bath complex and health spa facilities.
We can find there now the outdoor exhibition “Westerplatte: A spa – a bastion – a symbol”. It is a part of the Museum and divided into four areas, which correspond to the chronological phases of its story. The first one presents the processes by which the peninsula was created, and then shows the growth and the golden age of the spa, which lasted until the end of the WWI. The second segment is about the Polish Military Transit Depot, which was located here in the interwar period. The third part focuses on its defence in September 1939. The fourth section recounts Westerplatte’s place in Polish collective memory and in the politics of the Communist governments of 1945-89.
The intent of Museum of Second World War is to show the wartime experiences of Poland and the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. These were often different from what the people of Western Europe and of countries outside Europe lived through, and tend to be little known there.