Żabikowo Martyrdom Museum

The Nazis called it the "camp of bloody revenge". Some 40,000 prisoners passed through the German penal and interrogation camp at Żabikowo, which operated from 1943 to 1945 on the edge of today's Luboń, just outside Poznań. Since 1979 the former camp has housed the Martyrdom Museum, which opened a new wing in September 2026, tripling its exhibition space. Admission is free.

History of the camp

Its official name was the Security Police Prison and Labour Education Camp Poznań-Junikowo (German: Posen-Lenzingen). The site was originally planned as a forced-labour camp for Jews building the Poznań–Berlin motorway. From April 1943, after the prison in Fort VII was closed, Żabikowo took over its role and became the Poznań Gestapo's penal and interrogation camp. Prisoners were mainly members of the Polish intelligentsia from the territories annexed to the Third Reich, resistance members, Soviet prisoners of war, German communists, Jehovah's Witnesses and citizens of other countries.

On average about 2,000 people were held here at any one time, guarded by 80–100 SS men. The camp had eight prisoner barracks and ten administrative buildings; a fire-fighting pool in the middle was used as a place of torture and execution, and there were also punishment bunkers and barbed-wire cages. In June 1944 the Germans shot the leadership of the Grey Ranks, the underground scouting movement, here. The full number of victims has never been established – the local registry office holds 251 death certificates of prisoners.

The death march

On the night of 20–21 January 1945 the Germans began evacuating the camp. Of the 500 people driven west towards Sachsenhausen, only 208 arrived a week later. About 80 sick prisoners unable to march were locked in a barrack by the main gate, which was then set on fire – all of them died. The perpetrators were never brought to trial.

What to see

• The grounds of the former camp with memorial sites and the "Never Again War" monument by sculptor Józef Gosławski.
• The new wing, opened on 10 September 2026 – more than 1,000 m² with three exhibitions: "Opening the Stores", with personal items of prisoners from Żabikowo and Fort VII; "Traces of the Past", with objects found during archaeological work; and "Perpetrators", about the camp staff, set in the cellar of the so-called commandant's villa.
• The permanent exhibitions on the history of the camp.

The museum also cares for the memorial sites at Chełmno nad Nerem (since 2013 the Museum of the Former German Kulmhof Extermination Camp has been its branch), and since 2025 the Museum of the Martyrdom of Wielkopolska – Fort VII in Poznań. As a result, one institution now tells the story of three German sites of terror from the occupation of Greater Poland.

Tripto tip

The museum is at ul. Niezłomnych 2 in Luboń, on the outskirts of Poznań. Admission is free; last entry to the grounds and exhibitions is half an hour before closing. Opening hours changed after the new wing opened, so check them at zabikowo.eu before your visit. Groups wanting a guided tour by museum staff should book at least three days in advance. The museum does not recommend visits by children under 12. Allow 1.5–2 hours for the grounds and exhibitions, and to get the full story, combine the visit with Fort VII in Poznań.