Warsaw Uprising

The focus of this tour is the events that took place between August 1 and October 2, 1944, known as the Warsaw Uprising. You visit several monuments and memorials as you learn about the Uprising. A highlight is a private guided tour of the Warsaw Rising Museum, which opened on July 31, 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the Uprising's outbreak.

Your guide meets you at your hotel and you start with a driving tour to see the most famous monuments and memorials located throughout the city. The monuments honor the civilians and resistance fighters killed during the two-month battle, historians estimate 150,000 to 200,000 civilian deaths, along with roughly 16,000 Polish Home Army fighters, while the city itself was almost completely destroyed.

You stop at one of the largest of these, the Monument to the Warsaw Uprising, which sits on the spot where the Home Army began their fight against their German occupiers. Statues depict men, women, and children rising up out of the sewer system, prepared to fight. While the Uprising ultimately failed, the monument today speaks to the dedication and courage of the Polish resistance.

You see the Little Insurgent, the most poignant of the city's memorials. It depicts the hundreds of children who were killed during the Uprising. They were often used as messengers, but many also fought alongside the troops.

Your guide also points out some of the countless other monuments, wall plaques, and shrines that recall the events of 1944, found on buildings and in squares throughout the city.

After visiting these sites, you continue to the Warsaw Rising Museum, where a museum guide joins you to walk through the exhibits, which include thousands of photographs and artifacts documenting wartime Warsaw. After your museum visit, you are brought back to your hotel.