Pawiak Prison Museum

Pawiak Prison on ulica Dzielna 24/26 in Warsaw's Muranów district, Poland, was built in the 1830s as a tsarist-era prison and became notorious during the German occupation of 1939-1945. The Germans used it as a Gestapo prison, and around 100,000 people passed through it, of whom about 37,000 were executed and roughly 60,000 sent to concentration camps. Prisoners included members of the Polish resistance, political detainees, hostages and Jews from the nearby ghetto. In August 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans blew up the buildings, leaving ruins. After the war, part of the site was preserved and a museum opened in 1965 as a branch of the Museum of Independence. The surviving remains include a cellar corridor, cells and a section of the foundations, while a tree known as the Tree of Memory and plaques bearing names of prisoners commemorate the dead. Exhibits display prisoners' letters, personal objects, documents and photographs, and the interior has reconstructed cells with inscriptions scratched into the walls. The curatorial approach is thematic and memorial in character, presenting individual fates rather than a strict chronology. The museum is also associated with the Polish post office employees and women prisoners held here. Current status: the museum has been closed for renovation since 27 February 2026, with reopening expected in autumn 2026, so visitors should confirm opening before making plans. The location is close to the Umschlagplatz and former ghetto sites, which makes it a natural pairing in a walk through wartime Warsaw.