Pawiak Prison Museum

Pawiak Prison was built in 1835, but was used as a Nazi prison during the occupation of Warsaw from 1939 until it was destroyed along with the rest of the city following the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. During the occupation Pawiak prison saw 100,000 inmates pass through its gates, with over a third of these tortured and exterminated here, and the majority of the rest sent to concentration camps. The prison was a strong symbol of resistance and struggle for the Warsaw people against the Nazi enemy, and a tree that survived the war now stands at its entrance as a memorial to those who died, bedecked with commemorative plaques and messages.