Our boys? Exhibition on Poles forced to fight for Hitler sparks controversy

Two old family photos show the same group: a short-haired woman, a girl in a striped dress, and a man in uniform. But there is one difference between these sepia images: in one, the man wears a Wehrmacht uniform; in the other his military dress has been altered to conceal his wartime service.

- Jakub Knera

Donated to the Museum of Gdansk by the son of the girl in the dress, these images feature in an exhibition about the mass forced conscriptions of Pomeranians into the German army. Consisting of photo albums, family heirlooms and oral testimonies, the show, titled Our Boys, asks whether someone can be both a victim of and a soldier for an aggressor.

Unsurprisingly, it has proved extremely controversial.

After the German invasion of September 1939, some Polish territories, including Pomerania, were directly incorporated into the Reich. For men of conscription age, this often entailed compulsory service in the Wehrmacht. Those who refused to serve, deserted, or tried to join the Polish armed forces or partisan groups, were condemned to death or sent to concentration camps.