On the 82nd anniversary of the transformation of the Union of Armed Struggle into the Home Army (AK), the “History Stop” of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Krakow hosted the premiere of the board game “Silent Unseen. Paratroopers of the Home Army’, and the first board game enthusiasts played a mini-tournament.

The authors of the concept of the game, produced by the IPN Branch in Krakow, are Łukasz Płatek and Piotr Żyłko. “Our goal is to popularise the Silent Unseen, i.e. perfectly trained soldiers of the Polish Underground State in the West, who were parachuted into the occupied country during World War II”, informs IPN.

The missions carried out by the players are real-life actions that the Silent Unseen prepared, supervised, or carried out. Out of hundreds of bravura AK operations, the authors have selected those that illustrate the wide range of actions of the underground Polish Army against the German and Soviet occupiers. Graphic details on the box, game board and cards, quoted names of training centres, descriptions of flights, missions and jumpers’ skills are a simplified reflection of the AK paratroopers.

The box with our game contains a large colourful game board, four game boards, 12 wooden pawns in the players’ colours, 32 markers in the players’ colours, 80 cardboard tokens, a time marker, and several packs of cards (275 cards).

During the presentation of the game, Filip Musiał, director of the Kraków branch of the IPN, recalled that the Silent Unseen were a group of 316 officers and soldiers of the Polish Underground State who were parachuted into the occupied country during World War II.

“It would seem that among the almost 400,000 soldiers of the Home Army at its peak, these 316 people are not many. But if we look at where the Silent Unseen performed, in what actions they took part, what functions they held, it turns out that these 316 people were the backbone being behind the most important activities of the Home Army”, emphasised Filip Musiał.

Adrian Andrzejewski