The Wounded City. Poznań in June 1956

The album consists of 242 photographs out of which a majority was taken by employees of the Voivodship Public Security Office in Poznań. More than 200 of the photographs come from the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance while the rest is in possession of private people and institutions. The authors of the album tried to illustrate chronologically a sequence of events in Poznań. In order to depict an atmosphere of those days they preserved parts of captions and comments made by Security Office functionaries.

In the materials prepared by the Security Office their authors tried to prove that the June 1956 events in Poznań were an “imperial provocation”. That is why a majority of photographs highlights a “hostile” character of the events. The photographs show mainly destroyed public buildings as well as weapons taken over from the protesters. Photographs of 575 people who were arrested because of the June events constitute a unique collection. Their inclusion in the album should be treated as an expression of gratitude to all these people who were brave enough to fight for the “bread and freedom” in 1956.