Documentation Centre for the Deportation of Upper Silesians in Radzionków

The Documentation Centre for the Deportation of Upper Silesians to the USSR in 1945 is an exhibition and archive site in Radzionków. It is housed in the building of a former railway station and is devoted to the deportations of residents of Upper Silesia to forced labour in the Soviet Union.

What the Centre is

The site came about thanks to the efforts of the town of Radzionków, the Katowice branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and the deportees and their families, and it was supported financially by 29 Silesian local authorities. The idea of a permanent exhibition appeared in 2007. The town acquired the disused station in 2012, and the building was renovated in 2013-2014. The official opening took place on 14 February 2015. The Katowice branch of the IPN oversaw the exhibition's factual accuracy.

The deportations of Upper Silesians in 1945

According to the historical account on the Centre's website, from the end of January 1945 NKVD units detained suspects in Upper Silesia, but also random people, and on 3 February the Soviet State Defence Committee issued a directive on mobilising people aged 17 to 50 for forced labour. According to Soviet documents, around 40,000 people were interned in this operation. Those detained were held in transit camps, among them in Bytom, Knurów and Łabędy, and were then taken mainly to labour battalions in the Donets Basin, in Belarus and in the Caucasus.

The deportations took place in harsh conditions, and many of the deportees did not survive the transport or the work in the camps. The first returned from mid-1945, mainly older people and those unfit for work, the last still in the early 1950s. Until 1989 the subject was absent from public circulation, and memory was passed on within families.

The exhibition and archive

The permanent exhibition combines exhibits with multimedia solutions. It shows above all everyday objects brought back from exile, such as a spoon, a shaving machine, a razor and a suitcase, as well as written sources. The display is run by several computers and nine projectors.

The Centre also collects documents, publications and research materials, available in the reading room. Among the originals are certificates of the State Repatriation Office, death certificates, diaries written in exile, and letters. For pupils, lessons are held using the exhibits and parts of the exhibition.

Practical information

• Address: ul. św. Wojciecha 118, 41-922 Radzionków.
• The permanent exhibition can be visited only by booking at least one day in advance, by telephone or email. No more than 30 people may be in the exhibition at once, and the visit starts on the hour.
• Current visiting days and hours are given on the Centre's website. Check them and the rules before your visit.

Nearby is the Silesian Botanical Garden in Radzionków.

Another museum site in the town is the Bread Museum in Radzionków.