Muzeum Żołnierzy Wyklętych i Więźniów Politycznych PRL

This museum is still being organized — the permanent exhibition is under construction. Visits are possible, but only with a guide and by prior reservation on weekdays. On weekends, walk in at scheduled times. Admission is free.

What to Expect

This is not a conventional museum. It is a prison — operational until 2017, with real cells that held real inmates just a few years ago. Now a guide walks you through corridors where, for over forty years of communist rule, people who fought for Polish independence were interrogated, tortured, and killed.

The heart of the museum is Pavilion X, the investigation wing of the Ministry of Public Security. Cells measuring roughly 2 by 3.5 meters, built for one person, held six to eight prisoners during the Stalinist period. The guide opens individual cells as you walk the corridor. The first belongs to Captain Witold Pilecki — the man who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz, organized a resistance movement inside the camp, escaped, wrote a report for the Allies, and was then sentenced to death by the communists. He was shot in the back of the head on 25 May 1948. In this building.

In the same section: the cells of General August Emil Fieldorf “Nil,” Deputy Commander of the Home Army, executed in 1953, and Zygmunt Szendzielarz “Lupaszka,” commander of the 5th Vilnius Brigade of the Home Army. Near the cells you’ll see lockets and crosses recovered from their graves years later, and fragments of family letters begging for clemency.

Outside: the exercise yard with its open roof, a guard tower, and the execution grounds. In the basement, the boiler room served as the execution chamber. The executioner was Piotr Smietanski, known as “The Butcher of Mokotow.” Between 1945 and 1955, at least 283 documented political prisoners were killed here.

The museum also holds artifacts: underground publications, organizational documents, leaflets, newsletters, prison clothing, and Security Service equipment — miniature tape recorders, shields, helmets, uniforms. Pavilion X hosts the “Traces of Crime” exhibition with photographs and objects from archaeological excavations on the grounds.

A visit takes roughly 1.5 hours. The guide does most of the storytelling — this is a narrative museum where history comes from a human voice, not touchscreens.

A note for visitors: This is not appropriate for young children. The subject matter covers torture, execution, and extreme psychological and physical suffering. Teenagers over 14 studying history will find it deeply relevant. Expect to leave in silence.

Museum Status

The museum was formally established on 29 February 2016 by a decree of the Minister of Justice. It has held the status of a state cultural institution since 2020 and has been administered by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) since March 2022.

A permanent exhibition covering three segments — Cursed Soldiers, Political Prisoners, and the Security Apparatus — is under construction. The architectural design competition was won by M.O.C. Architekci of Katowice in January 2017. Plans include underground educational spaces, a cinema, and a theater hall. The former prison hospital has already been renovated and opened.

The last prisoners left Rakowiecka in 2017. The buildings are undergoing gradual restoration. The museum is operational but in a state of ongoing development — each visit may look slightly different from the last.

Tips

• Book ahead on weekdays — reservations are required Tuesday through Friday. Call +48 22 547 96 07 or email zwiedzanie@muzeumrakowiecka37.pl. On weekends, just show up at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, or 16:00.
• Guided tours only — you cannot walk the grounds independently. This makes sense: without historical context, cells just look like cells.
• Free admission — there is no charge.
• English-language tours — available but must be specifically requested when booking. Confirm availability in advance.
• Last entry at 16:00 — don’t arrive late in the day.
• Combine with Pole Mokotowskie park — a 5-minute walk. After a visit this heavy, you’ll want open sky and grass. The park is one of Warsaw’s largest and sits right next to the metro station.
• Groups of 10+ require advance booking regardless of the day.
• Night of Museums (May) — the museum participates annually. Additional spaces may be accessible. Check rakowiecka37.pl for programming.

Getting There

Metro: M1 line — Pole Mokotowskie station, 4-minute walk. The easiest approach from anywhere in Warsaw.

Tram: Line 17 — Rakowiecka stop.

Bus: Lines 116, 119, 138, 166, 167, 180 — stops at Lowicka or Madalinskiego, a few minutes’ walk.

Walking: From the city center (Rondo de Gaulle’a): about 25 minutes / 2 km south. From Lazienki Park: about 15 minutes.

By car: Street parking with meters available around Rakowiecka. Mokotow is easier than the center, but don’t expect a spot directly outside the museum during peak hours.

Nearby Museums

Background

The prison at Rakowiecka 37 was built between 1902 and 1904 under Russian Imperial rule. It was advanced for its time — central heating, running water, indoor plumbing. After Poland regained independence in 1918, it served as the main prosecutor’s prison in Warsaw.

During the German occupation (1939–1944), it became a Gestapo prison in the so-called “German district” of the city. Torture and execution were routine. During the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944, Home Army soldiers briefly liberated around 300 prisoners. The Germans retaliated by murdering approximately 500 inmates.

The darkest chapter began after Soviet forces entered Warsaw in 1945. The security apparatus converted Rakowiecka into the primary interrogation prison for “enemies of the state” — underground soldiers, opposition activists, clergy, farmers who refused collectivization. Conditions were brutal: cramped concrete cells, beatings, sleep deprivation, interrogations lasting days.

In the basement boiler room, death sentences were carried out. Those executed here included Captain Witold Pilecki (1948), General August Emil Fieldorf “Nil” (1953), Colonel Lukasz Cieplinski and six other officers of the Freedom and Independence Association (1951), Zygmunt Szendzielarz “Lupaszka,” and Hieronim Dekutowski. A 1998 memorial plaque lists 283 documented victims of political executions from 1945 to 1955.

In the decades that followed, the prison continued to serve as a tool of repression. It held participants of the 1968 student strikes, members of KOR (Workers’ Defense Committee), and Solidarity activists — Jacek Kuron, Adam Michnik, Aleksander Malachowski, Bronislaw Geremek, Kornel Morawiecki. After martial law was declared on 13 December 1981, democratic opposition figures were interned here.

After 1989, Rakowiecka continued operating as a standard pretrial detention facility. The last inmates left in 2017. The year before, on 29 February 2016, the Minister of Justice signed the founding act for the Museum of Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners. On 1 March 2016, President Andrzej Duda visited the site. The first exhibition was presented during Night of Museums on 14 May 2016. On 1 March 2017, the prison gate was symbolically opened in a ceremony attended by Zofia Optulowicz, Witold Pilecki’s daughter.