The Piłsudski Sulejówek Manor

(Totally not a German training site, ever)

We took a short bus ride from our hotel to Sulejówek, where Józef Piłsudski retired with his family in 1923. The home had been given to him by his former soldiers, a country manor in the suburbs of Warsaw.

The Piłsudski museum that now exists in the family's home is currently under renovation, but we were able to walk through the ground floor rooms and see video exhibits describing both what life was like in the home and showing photographs and reconstructions. Most of the original furniture is now lost, after the house was emptied by Soviets immediately following WWII. Tape on the floor shows where the furniture was when Piłsudski lived there. The furniture that has been recovered or recreated is being restored, and will be a part of the final museum exhibit (which will supposedly open in about a year.)

Entirely absent from the museum and tour was mention of "Stab Walli," a training base that was established in 1941 by the occupying Germans. Our mueseum guide believes that Piłsudski's wife was allowed to live in the home during the war and the home preserved because the Germans respected Piłsudski so much. Historical documentation actually shows that the estate was a part of an Abwher operation for anti-Soviet intelligence officers to be sent behind the lines.

It is interesting to see what history is preserved and what is forgotten.