Imperial War Museum Exhibition – Outbreak 1939
Show & TV Documentary Mark 70th Anniversary of Start of World War II
Aug 18, 2009
London's Imperial War Museum (IWM) has been the setting for some outstanding exhibitions including: In Memoriam Remembering the Great War, the Holocaust art exhibit Unspeakable and From War to Windrush.
Outbreak 1939
The Museum's latest exhibition, entitled Outbreak 1939, commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. It explores the build up and preparations for war, the outbreak of war on 3rd September 1939, the key events of that day, as well as the early months of the war. The launch of the exhibition will coincide with a documentary television program to be shown on ITV1 on 3rd September 2009.
The Phoney War
In the lead up to, and the early months of the war, plans were made to evacuate thousands of children from towns and cities, identity cards became compulsory and gas masks were issued to every citizen. Barrage balloons became a familiar sight and a nationwide blackout was introduced on 1st September 1939. Outbreak 1939 explores these events through posters, newspaper cuttings, photographs, official documents, personal possessions and stories and archive film footage.
Highlights of the Exhibition
The exhibition includes some fascinating exhibits:
- The Declaration of War from Lord Halifax.
- Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's pocket diary for 1939, showing his note – "War declared". The diary has not been publicly displayed before.
- A letter from Chamberlain to his sister. He tells her about events leading to the declaration of war, saying: "...the difficulty is with Hitler himself. Until he disappears and his system collapses there can be no peace."
- King George VI's jacket worn during his broadcast to the nation on 3rd September 1939.
- With so many service men preparing for war many weddings were hastily re-arranged. Dr and Mrs Child had planned a white wedding but their plans changed. The exhibition features the alternative wedding dress worn by Mrs Child on 3rd September.
- On 3rd September 1939 a British merchant vessel, the SS Athenia, was the first ship sunk by a German U-Boat. The display includes a purse and coin owned by an eleven year old survivor.
- The personal story of the artist Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) who became an official War Artist receiving a commission as a Captain in the Royal Marines. He died in 1942 (aged 39) while accompanying a Royal Air Force air sea rescue operation.
- The personal story of Clare Hollingworth, a journalist who achieved one of the most exciting scoops in history. Travelling alone near the Polish-German border, she discovered a huge build up of German troops, tanks, armoured cars and field guns ready to invade Poland.
Speaking exclusively to James Taylor, Head of Research at the IWM, Suite asked how such a fresh and exciting view of the outbreak of World War II had been achieved.
JT: "In many ways we are dealing with a fresh subject. Mostly, people know about 1940, with Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the beginning of the Blitz, but here we are trying to show how Britain stumbled its way into a second world war within a generation. To achieve that we have put on display a large number of letters, diaries and other personal objects which have not been seen before.
"We've also stressed the importance of Canada's contribution. After World War I Britain's dominions had a new sense of their own separate identity and there was no guarantee that they would join Britain against Nazi Germany. But they did, sending troops, materials, food, etc., which made a huge contribution to the defeat of a truly dreadful prospect – a world dominated by Adolph Hitler!"
Outbreak 1939 – Television Program
This program, to be broadcast on 3rd September 2009, will relate the events of 3rd September 1939 through the words of people who were there. The programme will show:
- the delivery of the ultimatum,
- the declaration of war,
- the King's radio broadcast,
- the first air raid sirens sounding on the streets,
- Churchill's appointment to the War Cabinet, and,
- the sinking of the SS Athenia.
The program will use filmed interviews and archive footage to tell the stories of British soldiers, mothers, wives, brothers and sisters, parents and children. The broadcast will feature testimony from relatives of figures no longer living, including Churchill's daughter, Lady Soames and his grandson, Winston Churchill, the nephew of Charles de Gaulle, Neville Chamberlain's grandson, and the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, cousin of the Royal Family.
The documentary will highlight stories from other parts of the world including France, Germany, Poland, Australia and Jamaica. Stars of stage and screen, including Richard Attenborough, George Cole, Tony Benn, Vera Lynn, Betty Driver, Nicholas Parsons and Peter Blake, will tell their stories.
Outbreak 1939 – The World Goes To War – Publication
Outbreak 1939 – The World Goes To War has been published in partnership with Virgin Books, ISBN: 9781905264827. The book, written by historian Terry Charman, describes events leading to the outbreak of war and the first few months, the so-called "Phoney War".
The exhibition will be open from 20th August 2009 to 5th September 2010. Further information regarding events and publications can be obtained from the Imperial War Museum.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
