17th Feb – 8th March 2024, POSK Gallery, Hammersmith, 238-246 King Street, W6 0RF

Discover a fascinating and unknown story of bravery, courage and freedom.

The date – 1940-1946.

The place – France, Villard-de-Lans, near Grenoble

The story – Refugees from occupied Poland set up a free Polish school in France to help fight against the Nazis.

While Hitler and Stalin were destroying Poland, the Polish Government in Exile, based in London, set up a very special school in the French Alps near the Swiss border.

The Cyprian Norwid Polish School was set up for Polish soldiers and others who had managed to escape from Poland, as well as for children of Polish origin already living in France.

It was a bastion of cultural, military and moral resistance to the Nazis and their allies and, amazingly, it was run with few restrictions in the area of France occupied by the Italians. But when the Germans started to notice what was going on, things started to get much harder.

During the Second World War, the school had two principal goals: to continue the fight against the enemy and to educate the future leaders of a free Poland.

This exhibition, which has been specially brought over from France, tells the story of the school from its origins to its final days.

“Heart of Freedoms” spotlights the students and teachers, many of whom have descendants living in the UK today.

It tells the story of what was taught, the joys and struggles of everyday life in occupied France and how students were part of the French resistance, helping to fight for the liberation of France and Europe.

UK Premiere of film forms part of the exhibition

The Principal of the school was Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski. As part of the exhibition, there will be a screening of “Out of the Limelight”  a full length documentary which tells the story of this Polish patriot, literary historian, poet, journalist, writer and diplomat.

The film is directed by award winning French/Polish film-maker Rafael Lewandowski.  Memories and touching anecdotes let viewers see Zygmunt Zaleski not only as a diplomat, publicist or teacher, engaged in the struggle for Polish culture, but also an open-minded, warm, passionate man.

The story of his life has been interwoven with fragments of his work, read by the great Polish actor, Wojciech Pszoniak.

The film will be shown at POSK on Sunday 18 February 2024 at 6.30pm. The director Rafael Lewandowski. will introduce the film.