Temporary exhibition
„The sun is shining where we are standing.”
The Junior Volunteer School (1942–1948)
- October 12, 2024–March 3, 2025
- opening night: October 12, 2024 (Saturday), 5:00 pm
- admission fee is included in the price of the museum ticket
- curator: Joanna Hytrek-Hryciuk, PhD
About the exhibition
The Pan Tadeusz Museum, the Branch of the Ossoliński National Institute, invites you to a temporary exhibition presenting the extraordinary stories of girls and young women connected with the Junior Volunteer School, which operated in the Middle East during and immediately after the war.
From 1942 to 1948, over a thousand girls and young women had the chance to save their lives and shape their futures thanks to the extraordinary project of the Junior Volunteer School operating in the Middle East.
‘There were 200 of us women. Young and old, impoverished by prisons and exile, destroyed by disease. We fervently pretended to be soldiers, wearing huge boots and oversized men’s uniforms. We attended drills and musters, and above all, we waited to be transported to Persia, believing more than ever in this miracle.’
(Janina Schramm-Hening, In Chok-Pak, ‘Junior Volunteer School Commemorative Book,’ ed. by the team, London 1972).
On September 17, 1939, after the attack of the USSR, the eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic came under Soviet occupation. As a result of the new policy, as many as three hundred and thirty thousand men, women, and children were sent deep into the Soviet Union to work as forced labourers in industry and agriculture.
The deportees’ disastrous situation was ameliorated by the restoration of diplomatic relations between Poland and the USSR in 1941. The Polish Armed Forces were established then, commonly known as Anders’ Army. Nearly forty thousand civilians volunteered for the army, including many women and children. On May 20, 1942, the Commander of the Polish Armed Forces issued an order establishing the Junior Volunteer School.
At its peak, over a thousand girls of various ages studied there. Most of them came from the eastern borderlands of the Second Polish Republic. A few found themselves there by chance, fleeing the Nazi occupation. Nearly thirty percent were orphans. The School had departments for general education, vocational secondary schools, junior high schools, and vocational courses. The first matriculation examination was held in Palestine, and eighteen students passed; the last was held in Foxley in February 1948. Over thirty graduates of the School also tried to study in Beirut. In August 1942, the Polish army was evacuated to Iran. With them, the school’s students began their journey across the Caspian Sea, Iran, Iraq, and the British Mandate of Palestine, eventually reaching Great Britain.
Most of the School of Junior Volunteers graduates and students did not return to Poland permanently but stayed in Great Britain. Others settled in Edinburgh or emigrated to Canada, the United States, South America, and Australia.
The temporary exhibition ‘The sun is shining where we are standing.’ The Junior Volunteer School (1942–1948) will be on display from October 12 to March 3, 2025 at the Pan Tadeusz Museum, the Branch of the Ossoliński National Institute.
One of the exhibition’s elements is an exposition transferred to VR, thanks to which it will be possible to enter the desert school and see what the students struggle with every day, apart from studying.
Curatorial team
- curator: Joanna Hytrek-Hryciuk, PhD
- production: Joanna Poślednia and the Technical Department team
- multimedia cooperation: Tomasz Zatorski and the Multimedia Section team
- arrangement: Adriana Myśliwiec
- publicity: Agnieszka Śrutwa and the Event Production Section team
- lending of objects: Alicja Szkuta, Society of Former Students, Educators and Friends of the junior Volunteer School in London, the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
Media patrons
- TVP3 Wrocław
- Radio Wrocław
- Radio RAM
- Radio Wrocław Kultura
- Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii
- Niezła sztuka
