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On July 18, Pozirk reported: “The Museum of Free Belarus,” operating in Warsaw, has accumulated nearly 300 items in its collection over three years, museum director Natallia Zadziarkouskaya said at the opening of the exhibition Fragments, dedicated to the institution’s anniversary on July 17.
“To remind people of the resilience of Belarusians, who, through sacrifices, repression, and darkness, continue on their path to freedom, is the mission of our museum,” Zadziarkouskaya said.
“Every object, every exhibit… tells the individual story of a Belarusian who chose the difficult path to freedom,” she added. “It is the story of a Belarusian who, in August 2020, was brutally detained simply for refusing to provide the password to his mobile phone… it is the story of a Belarusian who was wounded by a rubber bullet in August 2020. That bullet is also displayed in this exhibition today. It is the story of an ordinary young man, the artist Raman Bandarenka… who was killed in his own yard.”
Among the exhibition’s items is also a letter from captivity featuring a self-portrait of the political prisoner and artist Ales Pushkin, who died there in 2023, Zadziarkouskaya said.
The museum was established on the initiative of the National’s Anti-Crisis AManagement (NAU), the director reminded. According to NAU leader Pavel Latushka, it has become “an institution with a clear mission and role in society, preserving and presenting what often remains invisible but is very important for Belarusians: personal belongings, documents, artistic gestures, materials from streets, demonstrations, marches, prisons, and life after 2020.”
The museum’s collection also testifies “to Belarusian heroes—political prisoners and those defending Europe’s security in Ukraine,” he said.
“The museum has become a place where the largest modern movement of Belarusians for freedom is not merely recorded—it continues to live. It is a space that unites Belarusians in exile and brings the truth about Belarus to Europe and the world,” the politician added.
The institution’s activities “refute the widespread but mistaken notion that Belarusians lack the character or will to fight for freedom,” the NAU leader noted.
Latushka expressed gratitude for support from the Warsaw city authorities, the Netherlands Embassy in Poland, and the well-known Polish philanthropist Mateusz Radziwiłł, a descendant of the historic princely family.
The museum is located in the center of the Polish capital at Foksal 11.
Original article: pozirk.online
