General “Nil”

The exhibition was prepared to mark the 130th anniversary of the general’s birth (he was born on 20 March 1895 in Kraków). Covering his entire life path, it presents him in two dimensions: as a man and as a soldier.

In the part devoted to the private life of Emil Fieldorf, visitors will see a historical plan of Kraków from the early 20th century, marked with 13 points related to the hero. These include the Church of St. Nicholas, where Emil was baptised, three schools he attended, and his mother’s grave at the Rakowicki Cemetery. Contemporary photographs of these places are displayed alongside.

The display case presents personal items belonging to Gen. “Nil”, donated to the Home Army Museum by members of his family, including a chess set, a stool, a coffee grinder, a rosary and a cross that he brought from Jerusalem in 1940, as well as photographs, letters to and from his wife, and his daughter’s notebooks.

In this part of the exhibition, visitors can listen to a ten-minute recording of memories of the general’s wife, Janina. In the account recorded in the 1970s, Janina Fieldorf speaks about him as a husband and father.

The second part of the exhibition is devoted to the military career of Gen. Emil Fieldorf. At the very beginning, the general’s battle route from 1914–1921 is shown. Of more than 30 battles and skirmishes in which he took part, the most important were selected (including Brzegi, Czarkowy, Wilno, Dyneburg, Żytomierz and Kiev). The marked battle sites are accompanied by the decorations young Fieldorf received for valour shown there: four Crosses of Valour and the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari. Alongside are rarely shown photographs of Fieldorf from the Legion period.

The second route traces the path of Col. Emil Fieldorf as an emissary of the government and commander-in-chief from London to the homeland in the summer of 1940. In this way, the visitor enters the exhibition space associated with the Second World War. Here, a fragment of the feature film “Generał Nil”, directed by Ryszard Bugajski, can be seen, including the striking scene in which Fieldorf orders the killing of the German general Franz Kutschera. The liquidation of this Nazi official was the most famous action of Kedyw (the Directorate of Diversion) led by “Nil”.

On three electronic screens, visitors can learn about the role Fieldorf played in the underground: as a senior officer of the Home Army High Command, head of the Directorate of Diversion, and creator of the underground organisation “NIE”. They also cover Fieldorf’s first arrest by the Soviets in 1945 and his almost three-year stay in the labour camps.

The final part of the exhibition is devoted to the general’s fate in communist-era Poland in 1945–1953, above all his arrest by the security police (UB), his trial and his death sentence.

The guiding motif of the exhibition is quotations from historians, family members, superiors and “Nil” himself, displayed in various places throughout the exhibition. The exhibition design is by Sylwia Siudak-Bielecka.

Gen. Emil Fieldorf, pseud. “Nil” (1895–1953), was a Legionnaire, an officer of the Polish Army, and a participant in the Polish–Soviet War and the September Campaign. During the occupation he commanded Kedyw, then served as deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Home Army and created the underground organisation “NIE”. Arrested by the communist authorities in 1950, he was sentenced to death and executed three years later. He was the highest-ranking Home Army commander murdered by the communists after the war. Since 2001, the Kraków Home Army Museum has borne his name.

Exhibition catalogue >>>