Pilecki Institute NYC

Pilecki Institute NYC Pilecki Institute NYC is a public research institution.

It safeguards the values of democracy and freedom, contributes a distinct perspective to Europe’s history by bringing the Polish experience of the twentieth century into international discourse.

NOW OPEN | Between Life and Death. Stories of Rescue during the HolocaustThe exhibition tells the stories of people who,...
08/28/2026

NOW OPEN | Between Life and Death. Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust

The exhibition tells the stories of people who, despite the threat of imprisonment, deportation, or death, chose to help persecuted Jews during the Second World War.

Bringing together the experiences of both rescuers and survivors, the exhibition explores the complexity of human relationships under the extreme conditions of war. It also reveals how profoundly local circumstances shaped the possibilities for rescue and survival — and why helping someone in Warsaw could mean something very different from doing so in Paris.

The exhibition presents stories from 15 European countries and also highlights the efforts of diplomats who used their positions to help save Jewish lives.

📅 On view through October 29, 2026

🕐 Opening hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 12:00–6:00 PM
Friday: 12:00–8:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00–7:00 PM
Sunday–Monday: Closed

📍 Pilecki Institute
92 Greenwich Street, New York, NY

Admission is free.

Come discover these remarkable stories of courage, difficult choices, and human solidarity in the face of persecution.

The exhibition is co-organized by the Pilecki Institute and European Network Remembrance and Solidarity(ENRS) in partnership with Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN and Heroes Memorial Center

Foto: Monika Zieborak-Kozlowska and Ori Manahan

Karol Madaj Appointed Director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and ValorMarta Cienkowska, Minister of Cult...
08/25/2026

Karol Madaj Appointed Director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor

Marta Cienkowska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, has appointed Karol Madaj Director of the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor in Warsaw. His five-year term will begin on August 30, 2026.

Karol Madaj has served as Acting Director of the Pilecki Institute since September 1, 2025.

A graduate of biblical theology at the Catholic University of Lublin, Madaj began his professional career as a translator of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic. From 2008 to 2019, he worked at the Institute of National Remembrance, where his roles included serving as the President’s plenipotentiary for the establishment of the Center for Historical Education in Łódź and as Acting Head of the Department of Historical Education.

From 2019 to 2020, he worked with the Pilecki Institute – Center for Totalitarian Studies, contributing research and expertise to the “Called by Name” and “Jews in the General Government (1939–1945)” projects.

Madaj also co-created the Pilecki Family Museum in Ostrów Mazowiecka, where he served first as Acting Director and, from 2021, as Director. In 2023, he became Head of the Centre for Information and Education on Poles Rescuing Jews, a branch of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw.

He is the author and co-author of numerous publications on 20th-century history, including Proboszcz getta (2010), Historia w przestrzeni publicznej (2018), and Przed tobą ogień i woda: zagłada – decyzje – pomoc (2024). He has also created and co-created educational board games, including the award-winning Queue (2011).

We congratulate Karol Madaj on his appointment and wish him every success in leading the Pilecki Institute through this next chapter.

What did it mean to choose courage when helping another person could cost you your own life?Between Life and Death: Stor...
08/21/2026

What did it mean to choose courage when helping another person could cost you your own life?

Between Life and Death: Stories of Rescue During the Holocaust tells the stories of people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust—and of those who survived because of their courage.

Through individual stories and testimonies, the exhibition explores rescue, survival, and the difficult moral choices people faced under N**i occupation. At its center are the experiences of rescuers and survivors, reminding us that behind the history of the Holocaust are individual people and decisions made under extraordinary circumstances.

The exhibition is co-organized by the Pilecki Institute and the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS) in partnership with the Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN and Silent Heroes Memorial Center

We invite you to visit the exhibition!
📍 The Pilecki Institute, New York
92 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10006
📅 August 25 – October 29, 2026

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 12:00–6:00 PM
Friday: 12:00–8:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00–7:00 PM
Sunday & Monday: Closed
Closed on federal holidays.

Admission is free.

🇵🇱 August 14, 1980: The Strike That Helped Change EuropeA kiss goodbye before leaving for work.Chris Niedenthal’s photog...
08/14/2026

🇵🇱 August 14, 1980: The Strike That Helped Change Europe

A kiss goodbye before leaving for work.

Chris Niedenthal’s photograph The Kiss captures L**h Wałęsa kissing his wife, Danuta, as her mother looks on. Taken in the fall of 1980, it shows a quiet family moment at a time when Wałęsa’s life — and Poland itself — was undergoing a historic transformation.

Just weeks earlier, on August 14, 1980, workers at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk had gone on strike. What began as a labor protest quickly grew into a nationwide movement demanding workers’ rights, freedom of speech, and independent trade unions.

The strikes led to the creation of Solidarity (Solidarność), led by Wałęsa — the first independent trade union in the Soviet bloc and a movement that challenged communist rule.

August 1980 marked the beginning of a process that, nine years later, would help bring down communism in Poland and contribute to the fall of the Iron Curtain across Central and Eastern Europe.

Seen in this context, Niedenthal’s photograph captures more than a family farewell. Behind this ordinary gesture lies a moment when private lives became intertwined with events that would reshape Europe.

📷 Chris Niedenthal, The Kiss, 1980
On view as part of the MODEERN FREEDOM exhibition at the Pilecki Institute.

📍 92 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10006

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday–Thursday: 12–6 PM
Friday: 12–8 PM
Saturday: 12–7 PM

✨ Last Chance to See ZIETA ILLUSTRATED!This Saturday, August 15, is the final day to visit ZIETA ILLUSTRATED: Polish Des...
08/12/2026

✨ Last Chance to See ZIETA ILLUSTRATED!

This Saturday, August 15, is the final day to visit ZIETA ILLUSTRATED: Polish Design and Illustration in New York at the Pilecki Institute.

Presented by Zieta Studio in collaboration with the Pilecki Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute New York, the exhibition brings together Oskar Zięta’s iconic metal objects and their graphic interpretations by leading Polish illustrators, creating a dynamic dialogue between design, technology, and illustration.

If you haven’t seen it yet, this is your last chance!

📍 Pilecki Institute
92 Greenwich Street, New York

🕐 NEW GALLERY HOURS:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday–Thursday: 12:00–6:00 PM
Friday: 12:00–8:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00–7:00 PM

A Minute of Scream for BelarusToday marks the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the 2020 Belarusian pro-democracy pr...
08/09/2026

A Minute of Scream for Belarus
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the 2020 Belarusian pro-democracy protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule.
It is also an occasion to reflect on Polish-Belarusian activist Jana Shostak’s A Minute of Scream for Belarus (2020), currently on view as part of the MODEERN FREEDOM exhibition at the Pilecki Institute.
Created in response to the brutal suppression of democratic freedoms in Belarus, Shostak’s one-minute scream became an act of solidarity and resistance. The gesture has evolved into a universal form of protest, performed in support of Belarus, Ukraine, Palestine, the Women’s Strike, and other causes.

Six years after the protests began, their message remains urgent.
Since 1994, Lukashenko has systematically dismantled political opposition and consolidated authoritarian rule in Belarus. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belarus’s political and military dependence on Moscow has become even more pronounced, with its territory used to support Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Recent releases of prominent political prisoners, including Andrzej Poczobut, have brought moments of hope. Yet hundreds of political prisoners remain behind bars, while thousands of Belarusians continue to face repression, arbitrary sentences, intimidation, imprisonment, and exile. Some political prisoners have died in custody.
The release of individual prisoners does not mean the end of repression — nor does it diminish the importance of remembering the Belarusian protest movement and those who continue to demand freedom.

A free Europe needs an independent and free Belarus — a country where Belarusian speech, thought, culture, and memory can exist openly and without fear.

📍 See Jana Shostak’s A Minute of Scream for Belarus as part of MODEERN FREEDOM, on view at the Pilecki Institute through November 1, 2026.

Pilecki Institute�92 Greenwich Street, New York
🕒 New Gallery Hours
• Monday: Closed�
• Tuesday–Thursday: 12:00 PM–6:00 PM�
• Friday: 12:00 PM–8:00 PM�
• Saturday: 12:00 PM–7:00 PM

📣 New Gallery Hours at the Pilecki Institute!Good news for weekend visitors — we’re now open on Saturdays! 🎉Starting thi...
08/09/2026

📣 New Gallery Hours at the Pilecki Institute!

Good news for weekend visitors — we’re now open on Saturdays! 🎉

Starting this week, we’re updating our gallery hours to give you more opportunities to visit our exhibitions. Please note that the gallery will now be closed to visitors on Mondays.

🕒 New Gallery Hours

• Monday: Closed
• Tuesday–Thursday: 12:00 PM–6:00 PM
• Friday: 12:00 PM–8:00 PM
• Saturday: 12:00 PM–7:00 PM

Closed on federal holidays.

🖼️ Currently on view:

• MODEERN FREEDOM — through November 1, 2026
• ZIETA ILLUSTRATED — through August 15, 2026

Whether you’re stopping by during the week, spending your Friday evening downtown, or planning a Saturday visit, come explore what’s currently on view. We look forward to welcoming you!

📍 Pilecki Institute
92 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10006

See you at the gallery!

📸 Pictured: Candyland by Marek Schovánek, featured in the MODEERN FREEDOM exhibition.

82nd Anniversary of the Warsaw UprisingOn August 1, 1944, at 5:00 p.m. — the historic "W Hour" — the Polish Home Army la...
08/01/2026

82nd Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
On August 1, 1944, at 5:00 p.m. — the historic "W Hour" — the Polish Home Army launched an uprising against the German occupation of Warsaw.
For 63 days, Home Army soldiers, supported by Warsaw's civilian population and other resistance fighters, fought to liberate the Polish capital and assert the authority of a free and sovereign Polish state. Facing an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, they defended not only the streets of Warsaw, but also the fundamental right of a nation to determine its own future.
The price of that struggle was devastating. Some 16,000 insurgents and as many as 150,000 to 200,000 civilians were killed. Warsaw's population endured mass executions, forced displacement, and widespread destruction. After the uprising was suppressed, German forces systematically destroyed much of what remained of the city.
Today, on the 82nd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, we honor the women and men who fought, served, carried messages, rescued the wounded, and sustained life amid the ruins. We remember those who were murdered and those whose lives were forever changed by the uprising and its brutal suppression.
Their history reminds us that freedom is neither abstract nor guaranteed. It is protected through courage, solidarity, and responsibility — and preserved through a commitment to confronting violence, oppression, and historical falsehood.
At 5:00 p.m., Warsaw will once again come to a standstill. In that moment of silence, we remember a city that chose resistance and a generation that refused to surrender its dignity.
We remember.

08/01/2026

On 1 August, we remember the Warsaw Uprising – one of the most courageous and tragic chapters in Poland’s history.
The Warsaw Uprising was the largest single military operation undertaken by a resistance movement in German-occupied Europe during the Second World War. Over the course of 63 days, an estimated 16,000 to 18,000 insurgents and 150,000 to 200,000 civilians were killed. After its suppression, German units systematically razed what remained of the city. By the end of the war, around 85 per cent of Warsaw had been destroyed, leaving it the most extensively devastated capital in Europe.
Oliver Moody, Berlin correspondent for The Times, notes that Poland fielded “the fourth-largest Allied armed force” in the fight against N**i Germany and totalitarianism, which he describes as “a force that has never left us and remains one to be reckoned with.”

07/30/2026

Jannie Wolff, founder, owner, and director of YES Gallery in Hoboken, reflects on “MODEERN FREEDOM” at Pilecki Institute USA.

Speaking from her experience as a gallery director and curator, Wolff offers a thoughtful response to the exhibition’s scale, visual language, and curatorial depth. Her perspective points to the way “MODEERN FREEDOM” invites close looking and sustained engagement with the works on view.

She also highlights Izabella Gustowska’s “The Case of Josephine H.” – a work that opens an intimate reflection on memory, visibility, and the presence of women in art history.

“MODEERN FREEDOM” is on view at Pilecki Institute USA through November 1, 2026.
Monday – Friday, 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Pilecki Institute USA
92 Greenwich Street, Lower Manhattan, New York

Co-financed by the Polish National Foundation.

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92 Greenwich Street
New York, NY

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