It was created based on the order of SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski (the commander of German forces designated to suppress the uprising), which was agreed upon two days earlier with the administrative authorities of the General Government.

Bach quickly realized that mass murders only increased the Poles' will to resist, and German soldiers engaged in killings, rape, and looting were unable to conduct offensive actions against the insurgents.

[4] Moreover, from the very beginning, he intended to suppress the uprising through a combination of political and military factors, fearing that the use of purely coercive measures would prevent him from achieving the main goal – namely, the rapid elimination of the dangerous hotspot behind the Eastern Front, which Warsaw engulfed in rebellion.

Contrary to official assurances that the aim of the displacement action was solely to ensure the safety of civilians by removing them from the front zone, the Germans were only interested in exploiting refugees as slave labor and plundering and destroying the city itself.

This place was also chosen due to its favorable location – a short distance from the capital and a convenient position on the railway line from Warsaw to Skierniewice, which allowed for efficient "unloading" of the camp.

[25] In organizing selections and deportations, Diehl was supported by several officials from the Pruszków Labor Office, led by the notorious SA Sturmbannführer August Polland, known for his brutality.

[26] German doctors generally displayed a fairly friendly attitude towards Poles, manifested in "turning a blind eye" to attempts to protect the displaced from deportation to the Reich (under the pretext of illness or disability).

[29] However, while German doctors prepared lists of individuals deemed unfit for work, the final decisions regarding release from the camp were always made by SS men from the "green wagon".

[15] Polish services, distinguished from the crowd by white aprons with red cross bands, operated in the camp and took care of the wounded and sick, who were placed in both local hospitals and private apartments.

Additionally, in the morning and evening, the kitchen staff tried to distribute food rations to the refugees, consisting of half a liter of grain coffee and 200–250 grams of rye bread.

Mobile canteens were also organized on the camp premises (led by engineer Stanisław Zabielski), which provided the refugees with cigarettes, essential items, and additional food rations for purchase.

[45] Through the efforts of the Polish staff, the following were freed: former President of the Republic of Poland Stanisław Wojciechowski; government delegate for the Warsaw Voivodeship Józef "Niemira" Kwasiborski; eleven professors from the Warsaw University of Technology; writers Tadeusz Breza [pl], Stanisław Dygat, Wilam Horzyca [pl], Stefan Otwinowski, Maria Rodziewiczówna, and Jerzy Zawieyski; columnist Stefan "Wiecha" Wiechecki; graphic artist Eryk Lipiński; Professor Walery Goetel [pl] (rector of the AGH University of Krakow); figures from the film industry such as Antoni Bohdziewicz (director and screenwriter) and Marian Wyrzykowski (actor and director), and many others.

Transportations with displaced Varsovians usually arrived at the camp parallel to the Germans' conquest of individual districts of the capital:[50] The inhabitants from the nearest areas of Warsaw were also evacuated to the camp in Pruszków: Anin, Babice, Bemowo, Boernerowo, Jelonki, Kobyłka, Łomianki, Młociny, Tłuszcz, Ursus, Wawer, Wawrzyszew, Włochy, and Zielonka, as part of the German plan to thin out the Polish population within a 35-kilometer radius from the capital.

[48][63] By the end of the day, the Polish Central Welfare Council delegation was forced to sign a declaration prepared by the Germans, stating that the "liberated" population of Warsaw residing in the transit camp in Pruszków was living under conditions allowed by local resources, had sufficient food, medical and spiritual care, and no abuses were taking place.

Dr. Jadwiga Oszkielowa, who despite threats from the Germans presented the Red Cross delegates with the true situation of the refugees, was punished by having her access card to the camp revoked.

[70] On 15 November, a transport of so-called "Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw" (people hiding in the ruins of the city despite the end of fighting) arrived at the camp after being caught during a large roundup.

[80] There were shortages of bunks, so the refugees had to nestle on muddy concrete floors, among puddles of water; piles of rags, garbage, and debris; scattered in disorder planks, rails, sheet metal, or parts of repaired wagons.

During the final phase of the Warsaw Uprising and its capitulation, people were mentally and physically exhausted; starving; sick, injured, and burned; living in ruins and basements without water and light; women had been victims of rape, etc.

SS-Sturmbannführer Diehl maintained that all women were taken to the Reich for normal employment in agriculture or industry, and men – depending on the results of the investigation – were sent to forced labor or concentration camps.

[95] One day, near the "green wagon", Polish workers overheard a conversation between SS men who, having dispatched a transport to the Reich without water and food, wondered aloud how many of the deported would arrive alive at their destination.

[96] With the consent of the Germans, the care for the population gathered in the Pruszków camp was provided by the Main Welfare Council and the Polish Red Cross, which partially alleviated the difficult situation of the refugees.

[58] In early September 1944, a 25-person Registration and Information Department (headed by Teofil Cichoński) was also established at the Pruszków branch of the Main Welfare Council, which created a file containing data on missing persons, deported to the Reich, and family members conducting their search.

Fundraising and donations were organized by the Railway Social Care under the direction of Stanisław Pieścik and Józef Zieliński, the Volunteer Fire Brigade [pl], local consumer cooperatives, as well as Catholic parishes and orders with their Caritas branches.

[103] In response to the appeal announced in churches, the city's residents began to bring ready-made meals, mess kits, bowls and cutlery, kitchen utensils, and blankets to the camp.

[106] On 24 August 1944, the insurgent radio station Błyskawica broadcast a message and a letter from Pruszków in four languages, which contained an appeal to the International Red Cross for quick assistance to the 100,000 elderly and children held in the camp.

A breakthrough came with the publication in 2006 of the memoirs of Anna Danuta Sławińska [pl] (née Leśniewska), a Polish interpreter in Pruszków, who, based on her own observations and German statistics,[g] estimated that between 390,000 and 410,000 residents of Warsaw passed through Dulag 121.

[110] After the war, 82 unknown Warsaw insurgents and 50 civilians (including 23 women and 8 children) were exhumed from the graves on the camp's territory and transferred to the cemetery in Pruszków on 27 April 1945.

[117] In turn, the remains of 34 refugees (these are people who died between 5 September and 30 November 1944, including Aleksander Janowski, one of the founders of the Polish Tourist Society [pl]) are buried in the cemetery in Komorowo.

Its proper character consists primarily of the fact of massing several hundred thousand people, physically exhausted, spiritually exhausted, stripped of everything, and placed in extremely primitive conditions, in a situation where it was almost impossible to organize aid action, and the aim of this was ruthless, brutal segregation, separating families, sending people in transports without food and drink, for forced labor to the German Reich.

The museum's purpose is to commemorate the martyrdom of the inhabitants of Warsaw imprisoned in the camp and to express gratitude to the people of Pruszków and the surrounding areas for their sacrifice and assistance to the refugees.