The English Galleries Overview project was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. It targets an English speaking audience, including the 2nd and 3rd generations after the Survivors, living in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the Americas. The Exhibition Rooms in each of the 9 Galleries are introduced by a Polish character whose identity is fictional, but based on a composite of real persons. Accompanying each character’s narrative story is a multi-media selection of photographs, documents, maps, testimonies and historical facts. Each overview is professionally curated, contributed to and reviewed by a panel of historical experts. The “voices” for the fictional characters have been recorded at SBS Studios in Sydney, and feature professional Polish actor Andrzej Siedlecki and members of Polish theatre group Teatr Fantazja, including Director Joanna Borkowska-Surucic, Michal Macioch and Marta Zubek. These overviews of the 29 Exhibition Rooms in the Galleries will be a permanent exhibition in the Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum. They explore what life was like in Poland’s eastern “Kresy” Borderlands before World War II, the fight for survival and freedom by Polish citizens during the War under both Soviet and Nazi occupation in the Borderlands and in forced exile as military and civilians dispersed around the world during and after the War.

Note: The Kresy-Siberia Foundation is a non-profit charity established to research, remember and recognize the 1-2 million Polish citizens from Eastern Poland who were deported, enslaved and killed by the Soviet Union during World War Two. Founded in Sydney in 2001 as an internet discussion group by Stefan Wisniowski. Kresy-Siberia formally became a Foundation in 2008. It is headquartered in Warsaw and operates throughout the world with over 1,000 members. It is registered as a charity in Australia, Canada, UK and the USA. The group launched the Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum on 17 September 2009. In addition to the 9 Galleries and their 29 Exhibition Rooms, the museum features the Wall of Names (with over 40,000 names so far); the Hall of Testimonies (with video clips from over 900 recorded interviews with wartime Survivors) and the Hall of Memories (with over 9,000 photographs and documents) – and growing all the time. Kresy-Siberia is funded by special project grants and by generous donations from people interested in preserving and spreading the knowledge of Polish history.

The Kresy-Siberia Foundation also recently opened a Special Exhibition in the Virtual Museum: entitled “People of the Polish 2 Corps”, to mark the 70th anniversary of the World War II evacuation to Iran of 116,000 Polish military and civilians, formerly held captive by the Soviet Union. www.kresy-siberia.org/people-of-the-polish-second-corps/ This internet-based exhibition features the life stories of 16 men and women from the Polish 2 Corps, with its legendary victory over the Nazi Germans at Monte Cassino. The launch was held in Warsaw at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) as well as in the Polish Embassy in Canberra, Australia. The exhibition was funded by a grant from the Museum of Polish History. The Office of Veterans and Oppressed Persons Affairs also contributed, paying to bring several Anders Army veterans to Warsaw for the launch ceremony.

For more information please contact:
Anna Pacewicz
Director
Anna.Pacewicz@Kresy-Siberia.org
www.Kresy-Siberia.Org
0414 258 022

Stefan Wisniowski
President and Founder
Stefan.Wisniowski@Kresy-Siberia.org
www.Kresy-Siberia.org
0411 864 873