Julien Bryan shooting footage in Warsaw. Image courtesy Dom Spotkań z Historią

"An American in Warsaw" is the title of an exhibition featuring photographs, film footage and recordings made by the American reporter Julien Bryan during his visits to Warsaw before, during, and after World War II.

The show documents the history of Warsaw, from ‘the Paris of Eastern Europe’ before the war, through the tragic years of Nazi occupation resulting in the city’s almost total destruction to its post-war rebuilding. The day-to-day life of Varsovians was among Bryan’s favourite subjects.

Julien Bryan visited Warsaw for the first time in 1936. On 4 September 1939 he caught the last train to Warsaw. Twelve days later his appeal to President Roosevelt for assistance to  the city’s civilian population was broadcast by Polish Radio.

On 21 September Bryan left Warsaw, taking with him several thousand feet of motion pictures and some 700 photos of the besieged city. A selection of them was published in December 1939 on the covers of American Look and Life magazines, and the 10-minute film entitled ‘Siege’ had an audience of 80 million.

After the war, during his visits in 1946, 1959 and 1974, Bryan made shots of the same places and of some of the people featured on his war-time photos. He died in 1974, shortly after his last visit, at the age of 75. The opening ceremony of the exhibition in Warsaw was attended by his son, 71-year-old Sam Bryan.

The exhibition is open in Warsaw’s Dom Spotkań z Historią (History Meeting House) until 20 February 2011. (mk/jb)