Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

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henryk
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Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#1

Post by henryk » 23 Apr 2014, 21:19

http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/1690 ... quote]WWII museum previews pride of collection
PR dla Zagranicy Nick Hodge 23.04.2014 12:42
A range of exhibits from the forthcoming Museum of World War II in Gdansk has been unveiled in the Baltic city.
Miniature plastic figures sculpted from toothbrushes by inmates of the Nazi German concentration camp of Ravensbruck. Photo: PAP/Adam Warzawa
Some 30,000 objects have already been gathered for the museum, and journalists were given a glimpse of some of the most precious pieces in a sneak preview on Tuesday evening. The collection takes in such unusual artefacts as miniature sculptures carved from toothbrushes by inmates at the Nazi German concentration camp in Ravensbruck (pictured above).
Also included is a tray marked with a Star of David found amid the ruins of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw, after the Nazis liquidated the area in May 1943 (pictured left)Photo: PAP/Adam Warzawa .
Another invaluable exhibit is a sculpture of Christ that was shot by a Soviet soldier in a Silesian church in 1945. A large bullet-hole remains.
The firsts shots of World War II were fired at Gdansk (then the free city of Danzig) on 1 September 1939, when German warship the Schleswig-Holstein – technically on a courtesy visit – opened fire on the Polish garrison at the Westerplatte peninsula. Prime Minister Donald Tusk, himself from Gdansk, first presented the idea of building the museum in December 2007, and the project was given the green light the following year. Although it was initially hoped that the museum would open its doors this year, at present, 2016 is considered to be a more realistic date.
Album created by a Polish inmate of an officers' POW camp in Murnau for his wife. Photo: PAP/Adam Warzawa
(nh)
http://www.muzeum1939.pl/pl/o_muzeum/za ... sja_i_cele
Google translation
Mission and goals

The idea of ​​the creation of a museum depicting the fate of Polish in 1939-1945 on a broad European background showed Prime Minister Donald Tusk in December 2007. 1 September 2008, Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the position of the Plenipotentiary for the World War II Museum has appointed Professor. Dr.. hab. Paul Machcewicz and entrusted him with developing the concept of the museum. November 26, 2008 by a decree of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski cited World War II Museum. On the seat of the institution selected Gdańsk - the city where the war broke out.

"It is not true that historians know all about World War II. It is not true that all the problems of this period have been resolved. A large part of the population is not aware of the opinions adopted by historians ... That's why we need not only to studies of World War II, but also exhibitions, multimedia, measures that would allow the transfer of what we know about this disaster.'s why we need the Museum of World War II. " Norman Davies

Less than a year later, at Westerplatte, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, Prime Minister signed the Act Erection museum and open air exhibition "Westerplatte Resort - Bastion - Symbol"

The mission of the World War II Museum in Gdańsk is to create a modern facility, which will be told the story of the war as the greatest disaster of the twentieth century. This task is still valid, because despite the passage of more than 70 years since the outbreak of the Second World War, there is no museum in Europe, which as a whole, demonstrate the course and nature of the conflict.

One of the main objectives of the museum is to show the world the experience of war Polish and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in many ways different and little known in Western Europe and non-European countries. The basic emphasis in the historical narrative will be placed on the fate of individuals, communities and nations. Military History will provide a background narrative of the everyday life of civilians and soldiers, the terror of occupation, with phenomena such as genocide, resistance against the occupier and a great politician. The aim of such treatment of the subject is to give the uniqueness of the experience of World War II, in which the victim suffered the greatest civilian population.
http://www.muzeum1939.pl/pl/o_muzeum/przyszla_siedziba
Polished Google translation
Future home of the Museum

World War II Museum in Gdansk is being constructed on ul Wałowa, by the river Motławą, close to the historical center. It will be a symbolic architectural space and storage space - 200 meters from the historic building, the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk and three kilometers by water from the peninsula of Westerplatte, attacked in September 1939

The area of the future museum, covering an area of 1700 m 2 , touches on the west side Radunia Channel, and from the south opens up to a wide panorama of the Motława. it is currently on the outskirts of old Gdansk; soon it will be the center of the modern business district, located on the grounds of the shipyard.

Completion of the World War II Museum is planned for 2015. The Museum building covers an area of approximately 23,000 m 2 . The main exhibition area covers almost 7,000 m 2 . In modern fashion, the Second World War is presented from the perspective of contemporary high politics, and most of all - experience of ordinary people. The exhibition is intended to represent not only the fate of the Poles, but also the experience of other nations.

In addition to a permanent exhibition at the Museum will also be a thousand meters of temporary exhibitions. The Museum will also serve as a center of education, culture and science.
[/quote]

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henryk
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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#2

Post by henryk » 23 Mar 2017, 20:27

http://www.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/2991 ... seum[quote]
Poland to open new WWII museum 23.03.2017 07:12 Polish Radio

A new World War II Museum, the biggest of its kind in Poland, is to be opened in the northern city of Gdańsk on Thursday.
Photo: Facebook.com/Muzeum II Wojny Światowej/Roman Jocher

Construction took four-and-a-half years and cost the Polish government PLN 449 million (EUR 104 million). The museum has some 2,500 exhibits as well as 250 multimedia stations, allowing visitors to browse through archives including photos, films and maps.

“We want the exhibition to start a debate in Poland, and we want it to be a great Polish history lesson for foreigners,” museum director Paweł Machcewicz said. He added: “The World War II Museum places Poland’s experience within a broader European and world context.”

The museum focuses on the origin of the conflict as well as its impact on ordinary people. The facility in Gdańsk is the biggest historical museum in Poland, with almost 5,000 square metres of space.

More information on the museum can be found on its website.

(tf/pk) Source: PAP[/quote]
English language museum website:
http://www.muzeum1939.pl/en/home-page
Further information:
http://www.muzeum1939.pl/en/aktualnosci ... e639[quote]
23.03.2017
Opening of the Museum of the Second World War - 23 March 2017

Commenced in 2008, the work on the creation of the museum — on the concept and production of its exhibition and the construction of its building, which is one of Gdańsk’s architectural icons — has come to an end. It is with great pleasure that we invite all visitors to see the final effect, beginning with 23 March.

Its permanent exhibition covering almost 5,000 square meters, the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk is the largest historical museum in Poland. Located on the bottom level of the building, 14 meters underground, it talks about the tragic experience of the Second World War, its genesis and consequences, its victims and perpetrators, its heroes and the common folk.

“We hope that our exhibition, which we are opening to the public, becomes a subject of a nationwide debate and a great lesson in Polish history to foreigners. The Museum of the Second World War inscribes our experience in the European and international context, thus aiding the comprehension of both its distinctive features and the aspects it shared with other nations,” explains Paweł Machcewicz, the Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. “The museum and the exhibition are the work of not only historians, scenographers, and architects, but also thousands of people who donated their family tokens to our institution. An element of our narration, these token make it authentic, as the past becomes something very alive and full of emotions.”

The Museum of the Second World War was intended as an institution which would present the Second World War by combining the Polish perspective with the experience of other European nations. Designed by the 'Kwadrat’ Architectural Studio from Gdynia, the museum building is located on Władysława Bartoszewskiego Square, on the River Motława, close to the historic center of the city.

The permanent exhibition consists of three narrative blocks: “The Road to War,” “The Horrors of War,” and “The War’s Long Shadow.” It is divided into 18 thematic sections, which is reflected in the layout of the exhibition rooms. The exhibition contains approx. 2,000 exhibits, and there are also as many as ca. 240 modern multimedia consoles, which enable the visitors to browse through archival photographs and footages, watch video testimonies of the witnesses of those events, and study interactive maps of battles or of the shifting national borders during the Second World War. It was designed by the Belgian Tempora studio, whereas the Cracow Nolabel studio is responsible for its multimedia section. A tender for making the permanent exhibition was won by Qumak S.A.

One section of the permanent exhibition presents the everyday life during the Second World War and there is also an exhibition for children below the age of twelve, titled “Time travel.” It contains three rooms which are reconstructions of an apartment of a Warsaw family during three different periods: several days after the outbreak of the Second World War, during the German occupation, and immediately after the war. The changing elements of the interior design reflect the changing political and social situation in the occupied and fighting country.

The Building of the Museum of the Second World War

The museum grounds cover almost 2.5 acres, adjacent to the Radunia Channel from the west and opening up to the broad panorama of the Motława River from the south. The building has 26,000 square meters and is divided into three spheres, which reflect the connection between the past, present, and future: the past — the underground, the present — the square surrounding the building, the future — the leaning tower with the glass façade and ceiling reaching up to 40.5 meters. The tower houses, for instance, a library with a reading room, lecture and conference rooms, and a café and a restaurant with a panorama of Gdańsk on the top floor.

The architectural conception assumes that the entire evil of the war is hidden under the ground, and the ‘light’ of hope reaches within through a crack that runs along the square. It is the crack that forms the compositional axis of the entire concept of the placement of the main exhibition. It links the interior of the building with the world outside. The entire arrangement of the area is complemented by the square that surrounds the building, where open-air events will be held and people will be able to relax.

‘Kwadrat’ Architectural Studio

The ticket office, the information point, and the entrance to the permanent exhibition and the children’s exhibition are located on floor -3. The museum has also temporary exhibition space, a conference room for debates, symposiums, and concerts, and a cinema with 115 seats for screenings and thematic film festivals. Aside from performing its exhibition function, the museum is to operate as an educational, cultural, and scholarly center.

Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk
Władysława Bartoszewskiego Square 1; 80-862 Gdańsk
Main entrance: stairs from the square
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday 10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Las admission to the permanent exhibition at 5 p.m.
[/quote]


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bettika
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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#3

Post by bettika » 23 Mar 2017, 21:14

Hello,
the museum and his director became a victim of the nationalist political system in Polen now, before it could open.
The director lost his job,
The legal maneuver was designed to push out the museum's director, Pawel Machcewicz.

"We are being attacked as a museum that is not Polish enough," Machcewicz said Monday. "It's very unusual for the creation of a historical exhibit to encounter such huge pressure from the government."
http://www.dw.com/en/polish-government- ... a-37261074
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/arts ... .html?_r=0

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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#4

Post by Sheldrake » 24 Mar 2017, 01:19

Its a shame. Partially because Donald Tusk thought it was a good thing.
The Museum was the main Polish partner of Liberation Route Europe. https://liberationroute.com/
I think the government wants more on brave Poles and evil Nazis/Reds and less on the common experience of Europeans.

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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#5

Post by henryk » 24 Mar 2017, 20:37

bettika wrote:Hello,
the museum and his director became a victim of the nationalist political system in Polen now, before it could open.
The director lost his job,
http://www.muzeum1939.pl/en/museum/muse ... /managment
The Museum website shows Machcewicz continues as Director.
Management
Prof. Dr hab. Paweł Machcewicz is the Museum’s director. On 1 September 2008 Prime Minister Donald Tusk appointed Professor his plenipotentiary for the Museum of the Second World War. Dr Janusz Marszalec and Dr hab. Piotr M. Majewski serve as the director's deputies.

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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#6

Post by bettika » 25 Mar 2017, 23:14

Hello Hendryk,
the danger, that Director Paweł Machcewicz will loose his Job and the Museum its independence goes on
However, the institution is already in danger: The government wants to "unite" it with another small museum in Gdańsk and thereby separate it from its director, Machcewicz.

On April 5, the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland will rule on the matter. But Machcewicz will continue to fight: "We have spoken with lawyers and see good opportunities to defend our exhibition, on which we have worked for many years, against changes on copyright grounds."
http://www.dw.com/en/polands-world-war- ... a-38074880
http://www.nprberlin.de/post/nationalis ... m#stream/0
http://www.voanews.com/a/poland-wwll-mu ... 79955.html
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Re: Gdansk WWII Museum Open 2016

#7

Post by henryk » 06 Apr 2017, 20:01

http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/30155 ... ote]Polish culture minister announces controversial museum merger
Polish Radio 06.04.2017 17:19

Poland's culture minister has established a new WWII museum in Gdańsk by merging the existing Museum of the Second World War with the planned Westerplatte and War of 1939 Museum.

A glimpse at the World War II Museum in Gdańsk. Photo: muzeum1939.pl/Cezary Aszkiełowicz.

Culture Minister Piotr Gliński’s announcement that the new museum was established follows a Wednesday Supreme Administrative Court decision which overturned an earlier ruling that blocked the merger. The ministry earlier said that two museums devoted to the same historical period in one city were economically and logistically unjustified. However, some Polish media suggested that the decision is meant to serve the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party’s political objectives by supporting an “approved historical message”, and that the merger is only a façade.

The existing WWII museum, which opened late last month, cost nearly PLN 450 million (EUR 105 million) to build and has already had some 20 million visitors. It is the largest of its kind in Poland and is a state-of-the-art facility focused on the fates of both Polish and other civilians in the war. It claims to be a “history lesson for foreigners” and was consulted with experts including famous British historian Norman Davies.

But it has been criticised by PiS for “not being patriotic enough”, according to media reports. Davies told UK paper The Observer that “the Law and Justice government does not want a bunch of foreign historians to decide what goes on in ‘their’ museum.’’

Meanwhile, a merger with the Westerplatte museum could allow the government to appoint its own director to the new facility and rewrite its narrative. Gliński earlier told the Rzeczpospolita daily that: “The content of an exposition of a museum as important as the WWII Museum is neither a matter of the tastes of even great Polish and foreign historians nor the minister”. “The content should express the basic theses and directions of historic policy,” he added.

Gliński on Thursday also announced that Karol Nawrocki will be the new museum's director. Nawrocki said he did not accept the position to make changes. But "every museum in the world changes," he added. He said he is open to the opinions of experts and the public opinion. "Maybe some of them will decide that some parts of the exhibition be changed," Nawrocki said. He also requested that doners leave their artefacts at the museum where they will "remain safe".

The Westerplatte museum was announced by the government in December 2015, just two months after PiS won parliamentary elections, and exists only on paper. The Museum of the Second World War was announced in 2012 by then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a co-founder of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party. (vb)[/quote]

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