Baraniak. 145 Interrogations on Rakowiecka Street

The exhibition is devoted to Archbishop Antoni Baraniak. He was tortured in the Mokotow prison, held in a dark cell and in punishment cells, deprived of sleep and starved. As a bishop and secretary to Primate Stefan Wyszynski he was subjected to inhuman interrogations aimed at extracting testimony that the head of the Polish Church had spied for the Vatican.

On 30 October 1955, in Komancza, Primate Stefan Wyszynski wrote of his secretary’s imprisonment in his “Prison Notes”: “It was known at Mokotow that Bishop Baraniak was bearing up bravely and conducting himself with dignity before his interrogators. It was known that the bishop was ‘under investigation’, that the investigation was long and very gruelling, and that the bishop incriminated no one.”

The exhibition is set in the corridor of Pavilion XI. It shows the archbishop’s personal belongings, photographs he took and his liturgical vestments. One of its central pieces is a large oak wardrobe concealing an altar at which the archbishop said mass after his release from prison, when he was under house arrest and the authorities had forbidden him to celebrate. The hidden altar was built for him by his fellow Salesians. The exhibition was created in co-operation with the archbishop’s family; admission is free.

What to expect

This is a small display along the corridor of Pavilion XI, not a gallery of its own. The museum gives no object count. It lists the archbishop’s personal belongings, his liturgical vestments and photographs he took himself. Three things repay a closer look:

• The oak wardrobe with a hidden altar - from the outside an ordinary clothes wardrobe with clothes on the rail; inside, his fellow Salesians fitted everything needed to say mass, and the secret police officers who checked on him never noticed.
• Photographs taken by Baraniak - a rare chance to see through the eyes of a political prisoner rather than only at his portrait.
• Vestments and personal belongings - the exhibition was put together with the archbishop’s family.

The number in the title is literal: the museum writes of 145 interrogations during the 27 months the bishop spent at Rakowiecka. The display draws its force from the place. You see these objects inside the very prison where those interrogations took place.

You cannot wander in on your own: the museum admits visitors only with a guide. When booking, the museum asks you to mention that you want to see the Baraniak exhibition. Say so explicitly rather than assuming the standard tour covers it.

Context

Antoni Baraniak (1904-1977) was a Salesian priest and private secretary to two heads of the Catholic Church in Poland, Cardinals August Hlond and Stefan Wyszyński. In the early 1950s the communist regime was trying to break the Church, and on the night of 25 to 26 September 1953 its secret police arrested Wyszyński and Baraniak together. They wanted Baraniak’s testimony for a show trial of the cardinal; he gave them nothing. He left prison on 29 December 1955 but was kept isolated at a Salesian house in Marszałki until October 1956; in 1957 he became Archbishop of Poznań and held the post until his death.

Poland awarded him its highest honour, the Order of the White Eagle, in 2018, and parliament named 2024 the Year of Archbishop Antoni Baraniak. The museum’s own account of the interrogations is in Polish on its website.

Tickets and time

• Free admission. There are no tickets.
• Guided visits only, and only for visitors over 13.
• Tuesday to Friday: booking required, individuals included - phone +48 22 547 96 07 or email zwiedzanie@muzeumrakowiecka37.pl with your preferred time, the number of people and a note that you want the Baraniak exhibition. You can visit only once the museum has confirmed.
• When to call: the exhibition page gives booking hours of 8:30-15:30 on weekdays, the general visiting page 8:30-16:00. Call before 15:30 to be safe.
• Saturday and Sunday: tours at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00, individuals need no booking, groups of more than 10 must book. The museum does not say whether weekend tours include this exhibition; if it is the reason you are coming, email ahead.
• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00 (10 AM - 6 PM), closed Mondays. Last entry on weekdays at 16:00.
• How long: the museum puts a guided visit at about 1.5-2 hours, part of it outdoors.
• Access: the museum states it is not adapted for wheelchair users or blind visitors. There is no parking. The easiest way there is metro line M1 to Pole Mokotowskie, a few stops south of the city centre, or trams 17 and 67.
• Photos: you may photograph the exhibition for personal use; recording the tour and photographing the guides is not allowed.
• English on site: the museum offers guided tours in English, booking required. It says nothing about English labels or an audio guide for this exhibition, so ask for an English-speaking guide when you book.

Who it is for: visitors interested in the Catholic Church under communism, Cardinal Wyszyński or the fate of political prisoners. If you expect a large multimedia exhibition, skip the detour: this is a few display cases and one remarkable piece of furniture, best seen as part of a tour of the former prison.

What the press says

No English-language coverage found. Both items below date from the opening in 2021; they are an announcement and an interview with the director, not reviews, and no later articles about the exhibition itself turned up.

• Polskie Radio 24, “Temat dnia / Gość PR24” (31.10.2021, host Małgorzata Wosiek): the then director of the museum, Jacek Pawłowicz, says the archbishop’s belongings had never before been shown on this scale. At the time the article placed the exhibition in the former visiting room; the museum now lists it in the corridor of Pavilion XI - article with recording, in Polish
• PAP (Polish Press Agency), dzieje.pl (22.10.2021, Grzegorz Janikowski): an announcement of “A Day with Archbishop Baraniak” and the exhibition’s opening on 26 October 2021. According to the director, the objects came from the collections of the Salesian province in Piła and of the museum. A route marked by a thin amaranth line was to lead through a cell in Pavilion X to the wet punishment cell - article, in Polish

See also

• Museum of Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners - the Pavilion X cells, the prison’s history and directions; this exhibition is part of the same guided visit.
• “Evidence of Crime” - almost 200 objects recovered from the secret burial ground at Powązki Military Cemetery, shown in Pavilion X; the same terror, seen through those who never left this prison alive.
• “For the Soul and Character of the Polish Nation. The Freedom and Independence Association” - the largest underground organisation of post-war Poland, whose members passed through the same interrogation blocks.

Museum profile: Museum of Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners.