A museum dedicated to Captain Witold Pilecki as well as the wartime and post-war fate of his family, has been opened in a house in Ostrów Mazowiecka belonging to Maria Pilecka. In his speech at the opening ceremony, President Andrzej Duda emphasised the importance of the creation of the new museum, which is intended to serve the upbringing of children and young people, but also to show parents how to bring up their children.

“Also for Poland to last, for the place where we are first-class citizens, because we are hosts, in our own country and on our own land. This is what Captain Witold Pilecki fought for to his last breath. His wife and his children survived it all, understanding it perfectly”, said President Andrzej Duda.

The President added that the Pilecki family home is a symbol of the upbringing of an entire generation, from which the Columbuses and the Steadfast Soldiers grew up, and without Witold Pilecki and his family, there would be no free Poland.

The Museum is dedicated both to the figure of Witold Pilecki, a voluntary Auschwitz prisoner and a hero of the fight against communism and Nazism, and to his wife Maria. The story of the family is also told by the Pileckis’ children, Zofia and Andrzej. The opening of the Pileckis Family House Museum was provided under the National Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, on the Centenary of the Regaining of Independence.

The institution is located in a house built in 1901 by the father of Maria Pilecka (née Ostrowska) for the Ostrowskis family. Under an annex dated 11 July 2019 the museum was included in the register of cultural institutions, maintained by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The agreement with the minister on the co-management of the Pilecki Family House Museum was extended until 2030.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński