Museum of the War Camp

Permanent exhibition
2015

About

A museum dedicated to prisoners of the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag IB Hohenstein was opened in Olsztynek. During the Second World War, the camp located in Królikowo (municipality of Olsztynek) held about 650 000 people prisoner, including Poles, the French, Russians, Italians, Belgians and Serbs. It was one of the largest POW camps in Eastern Europe.

The new museum facility is located in the Town Hall building in Olsztynek. Its main purpose is to commemorate the victims of the camp from the years 1939-1945 and to spread information about the history of the region. Apart from housing an exhibition, the museum will undertake educational and scientific activities. It is going to collect data on the former camp and its prisoners, as well as conduct scientific research in this area. The place will become a modern, public information centre.

The permanent exhibition consists of two rooms. The first one is dedicated to the history and tourist attractions of the Olsztynek municipality, while the other is entirely devoted to the history of the former POW camp and the history of the town since the liquidation of the camp until the present day.
New Amsterdam was responsible for the complete exhibition design together with multimedia elements. In addition to traditional exhibition showcases, models and large format print-outs, the space also features multimedia stations of different types. At nine interactive kiosks, the visitors are able to, for example, take a look at statistical data and hear direct testimonies and memories of witnesses of the war. The exhibition is enhanced with stations making use of the Augmented Reality technology – a scanner reads special augmented reality markers arranged in the museum space, combining a virtual world with the real one.

The visitors get to see, among others, 3D models of the German airship LZ-129 Hindenburg and of the camp.

The multimedia exposition also includes 360-degree projections supplemented with surround soundtrack and animations as well as three interactive tables. One of them displays a three-dimensional model of the camp rendered in real time, which allows the user to zoom and take a closer look at any part of the facility. The hall dedicated to the history of Olsztynek features a panoramic view of the inside of a house dating back to the turn of the 19th century, i.e. the times of Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongovius – Olsztynek-born pastor, preacher and philosopher. Complementary to multimedia content of the exhibition will be a mobile application available online and supporting the augmented reality, which will provide further interaction with the exhibits collected in the museum.

The exhibition occupies more than 300 m2. The opening of the Multimedia Museum of Stalag I-B Hohenstein POW Camp and the History of Olsztynek took place 26 June 2015.

In a nutshell

9 infokiosks
360 degree
screenings
3D model
of the camp
AR Mobile
app
300 m2
of exhibition
space

Gallery