The Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom is located in the building that was once used as the Nazi Gestapo headquarters during the German occupation of World War II. The Gestapo also used this location to imprison, interrogate, and torture thousands of Poles, most who did not survive. The museum commemorates these people, and gives visitors a comprehensive understanding of the dark period that was WWII Warsaw.
Enter the building and descend a set of wide stairs into the headquarters’ cellar. Inside the narrow corridor is a row of preserved prison cells, many with the metal shackles still attached. A "Straßenbahn" or “tram cell” is lined with rows of wooden benches. This is where inmates would be forced to wait their turn for interrogation and torture. A haunting interrogation room has been reconstructed, alongside a display of terrifying authentic torture instruments. The walls of the museum are covered in thousands of inscriptions of names, prison calendars, crosses, drawings, reflections on death, and prayers, placing visitors in the mindset and world of the people who suffered here terribly.
Continue through the narrow corridor to get to the museums interactive computer displays, where you can browse through an expansive archive of information on Warsaw, the Gestapo, and the insufferable treatment that many Polish citizens received here. So much information is provided here that it may be difficult to get through it all.
The museum includes very dark and upsetting material, and is not suitable for young children.