Memorial Chamber of Communist Terror in Tomaszów Lubelski

What to expect

The Memorial Chamber of Communist Terror in Tomaszów Lubelski is a place of remembrance set up where the security police jail operated: in the former detention building of the County Office of Public Security (PUBP) at ul. Lwowska 64, in use from 1944 to 1956. Opponents of communism were held, tortured and killed here, mainly soldiers of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), the Peasant Battalions (Bataliony Chłopskie) and the WiN association (Zrzeszenie WiN). The Chamber is part of the Janusz Peter Regional Museum.

The exhibition, which the museum opened in 2023, is devoted to the work of the Tomaszów security police and to the victims of communist terror from 1944 to 1956. The building itself is part of this story: at Lwowska 64 there were staff offices and the UB (security office) clinic, and in 1948 rooms were added to it and fitted out as cells for the arrested.

The jail was one of three buildings of the Tomaszów PUBP complex; the office’s main seat was in the villa “Cybulówka”. According to the museum, the head of the Tomaszów security police worked in the building next door, at today’s ul. Lwowska 62, which also held arrest cells, interrogation rooms and the notorious punishment cell known as the “Smocza Jama” (the Dragon’s Den).

The IPN Lublin channel (the Lublin branch of the Institute of National Remembrance) has published the film “Odwiedź Izbę Pamięci Terroru Komunistycznego w Tomaszowie Lubelskim” (Visit the Memorial Chamber of Communist Terror in Tomaszów Lubelski) on YouTube. It is embedded on the IPN’s educational page about the Chamber, which is undated and describes the exhibition of 2010, not the exhibition of 2023.

On Google Maps the Chamber has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 from 11 reviews, posted over about 8 years; the most recent is from about 3 months ago (read on 25 October 2026).

Who it suits: people interested in the fate of the underground soldiers after 1944 and in how the county security police worked, and organised groups, which can arrange a visit outside opening hours. It is a hard place for a visit with young children: it tells of prisoners tortured and killed in this building.

Who should skip it: anyone looking for a general regional museum. The Chamber’s exhibition focuses on the work of the Tomaszów security police and on the victims of communist terror from 1944 to 1956, so for the wider history you are better off at the Janusz Peter Regional Museum, which you will find among the museums in Tomaszów Lubelski.

How long: the Chamber gives neither a visiting time nor the size of its display; ask by phone, the number is in the practical box.

Tips

• Check the hours before you set off. The Chamber is open for a short part of the day: Tue-Fri: 8:00-12:00, Sat-Mon: closed. Outside opening hours it admits only organised groups that have booked in advance, so anyone coming alone or in a small party has to arrive on an opening day (closed on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays). The visiting regulation states that the opening hours may change, so phone before a longer journey; the number is in the practical box.
• A group can come outside opening hours. Organised groups of at least 10 people can visit the Chamber outside opening hours, also on the days it is closed, by arrangement at least one day before the planned visit. The phone number and email are in the practical box.
• Collect a ticket. Because of the historical and educational character of the place, admission is free for all visitors, but under the regulation you still have to collect a ticket.
• Look at the IPN page. The IPN’s educational page about the Chamber embeds two films: the IPN Lublin film about the Chamber and a MediaFilmPro (Krzysztof Rębisz) recording of the unveiling of a plaque on the former UB building commemorating the breaking of the prison and the freeing of the prisoners.
• Check accessibility by phone. If you use a wheelchair or have a pushchair, ask about the entrance and the visiting conditions before your visit; the number is in the practical box.

Getting there

Address: the Chamber is at ul. Lwowska 64, 22-600 Tomaszów Lubelski.

Train: according to the guide on the town’s website, the nearest railway station is in Bełżec, 7 km from Tomaszów Lubelski, so the last part of the journey has to be made other than by train.

Check the connection to Tomaszów Lubelski with the carrier before you set off.

Background

The building at Lwowska 64 served the security police until 1956; after the office was abolished, its rooms were used by the District Court as an archive. The Memorial Chamber opened to visitors in 2010, on the 65th anniversary of the freeing of the prisoners by the unit of Karol Kostecki “Kostek”, commander of the “Narol” company.

According to the IPN, on the night of 13 November 1945 a WiN partisan unit from the Narol area, led by Lt Karol Kazimierz Kostecki “Kostek”, attacked the UB prison in Tomaszów Lubelski.

The Chamber was formally opened on 14 November 2010 by the Lublin voivode Genowefa Tokarska, the mayor of Tomaszów Lubelski Ryszard Sobczuk and the director of the Lublin branch of the IPN Jacek Welter. The first permanent exhibition was researched and designed by staff of the Lublin IPN; according to the IPN’s educational page, it included a reconstructed interrogation room with instruments used to torture prisoners. In 2023 the museum opened a new exhibition.