„Mr. and Mrs. Courier” – educational project

In the fall of 2019 and spring 2020, thanks to the support of the United States Embassy in Warsaw, American Consulate in Cracow and the U.S. Department of State, the Pan Tadeusz Museum is organizing an educational project “Mr. and Mrs. Courier”. It includes lessons and workshops for children and youth from Lower Silesian schools, especially its poorer parts. It will take place at the exhibition „Mission: Poland”, a story about romantic ideas of freedom transferred into the world of the II world war and post-war period. One of the characters presented here is Jan Nowak-Jeziorański.

All project events will discuss the life and work of Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, his courier missions during WWII, his life in the United States and post-war activities to conquer communist regime, as well as his work after 1989 focusing on Polish membership in NATO and entrance to the EU. Artistic workshop will be based on the work of Jadwiga Nowak-Jeziorańska, Jan’s wife, who supported her husband’s fight. She was also a renowned photographer – her works have been kept in the Ossolineum collections and are presented at the “Mission: Poland” exhibition.

Jan nowak i greta misja polska

Life and work of Jan and Jadwiga Nowak-Jeziorański, presented at the interactive exhibition „Mission: Poland” in the museum, have become an inspiration for these educational project activities, which are to share the knowledge on democracy and civic education among children and young adults.

Participants will take part in lessons and workshops, but they will also witness the reconstruction of so-called “balloon war” from 1955, organized by Radio Free Europe, where Jan Nowak-Jeziorański then worked. At night of February 12 there were 800.000 balloons sent from Bavaria to Poland, bearing the brochure with secret information from Józef Światło, former communist official who fled to the West.

Meetings of the project are planned for December 2019, February, March and May 2020.

Consulate of USA in Kraków