Warsaw - September 1939. Woodcuts by Eugeniusz Pichell

A portfolio of woodcuts by Eugeniusz Pichell, “Warsaw - September 1939”, on view inside the former Gestapo detention cells at the Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom.

Museum of Independence on the exhibition:

“From 1 September - on view inside the former Gestapo detention cells: woodcuts by Eugeniusz Pichell from the portfolio ‘Warsaw - September 1939’.”

What to expect

The display accompanies the 87th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland and is included in a visit to the Mausoleum’s permanent exhibition. Opening hours and ticket information are on the Museum of Independence’s website.

The museum does not say how many woodcuts from the portfolio are on show, and it gives no closing date. Expect a small display rather than a full exhibition. The setting is the point: prints of besieged Warsaw hang in the basement cells where the Gestapo held and interrogated prisoners from 1939 on. If you have already been to the Mausoleum, this is a reason to go back.

Context

Eugeniusz Pichell (1905-1976) was a Warsaw graphic artist who fought in the city’s defence in September 1939, commanding an infantry company as a reserve second lieutenant. Taken prisoner by the Germans on 29 September 1939, he only took up woodcut in Oflag II C Woldenberg, a German camp for Polish officers, where he cut camp postage stamps and cards. After the war he lived in Opole and returned to Warsaw in 1950, working in woodcut, posters and glassware design.

Tickets and time

• Tickets: 20 PLN standard, 10 PLN reduced, 1 PLN with the Polish Large Family Card (hours and tickets). The museum announces no separate ticket for the woodcuts: they hang inside the former detention cells, which your regular Mausoleum ticket covers.
• Thursday: free admission with a free ticket, so on Thursdays you see the woodcuts for free.
• Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-17:00 (10 AM - 5 PM), last entry 16:30; closed on Mondays.
• How long: the Mausoleum itself is a short visit; add about 15 minutes for the prints.
• Who it is for: anyone interested in the 1939 siege and the German occupation of Warsaw. Not for young children: the museum aims its autumn educational meetings (Pawiak Remembrance Days) at grades 7-8 of primary school and at secondary schools, and the cells are a site of interrogation and torture.

Events

From the Mausoleum’s September programme, during the display:

• 23.09.2026, 10:00 - an educational talk, “August and September 1944 in the German police district”, part of the 30th Science Festival (September programme).
• 19.09.2026, 11:00 - weekend guided tour; you pay only for admission, with no guide fee (September programme).

See also

• Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom - the site itself: the cells, prisoners’ inscriptions, getting there and access.
• A Photojournalist at War. 36 Frames - Warsaw Uprising war correspondents’ photographs on the Łazienki park fence, about 10 minutes’ walk from Szucha Avenue, until 30 September 2026.
• The Memory of the Uprising - the Museum of Independence’s other current show on wartime Warsaw, in the Bielańska Gate Gallery at the Citadel, until 4 October 2026.

Museum profile: Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom.