Museum of the Second World War

{{Infobox museum

|name = Museum of the Second World War

|image = Museum WWII 2.jpg

|image_upright =

|caption = Exterior of the Museum of WWII

|map_type =

|map_caption =

|map_size =

|coordinates =

|established = {{Start date and age|2017|03|23|df=yes}}

|location = Władysław Bartoszewski Square 1, Gdańsk, Poland

|type = History museum

|collections = Military equipment, historical documents and war memorabilia

|director = Rafał Wnuk{{cite web |last1=Tilles |first1=Daniel |title=Defence minister criticises removal of Polish wartime heroes at WW2 museum |url=https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/06/26/defence-minister-criticises-removal-of-polish-wartime-heroes-at-ww2-museum/ |website=Notes from Poland |access-date=1 July 2024 |date=26 June 2024}}

|curator =

|visitors = 417,812 (2017){{cite news|url=https://trojmiasto.wyborcza.pl/trojmiasto/56,35612,22921002,3-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej-413-812-zwiedzajacych,,8.html |title=3. Muzeum II Wojny Światowej: 413 812 zwiedzających |access-date=2018-09-02}}

|publictransit =

|website = [http://muzeum1939.pl/en muzeum1939.pl/strona-glowna]

}}

File:Muzeum 2 Wojny Swiatowej Gdansk Sherman tank.jpg of Polish I Corps fighting in Western Europe during WWII]]

File:Celownik Norden M2WS Gdańsk.jpg]]

File:Muzeum-2-wojny-swiatowej-1rhb.jpg

The Museum of the Second World War ({{Langx|pl|Muzeum II Wojny Światowej}}) is a state cultural institution and museum established in 2008 in Gdańsk, Poland, which is devoted to the Second World War. Its exhibits opened in 2017. The museum is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

In 2009 the NV Tempora S.A. won the competition for the design of the exhibition which was commissioned in 2015 to Warsaw-based Qumak S.A. company. In 2010 the Kwadrat architectural team won an architectural competition for the building of the Museum of the Second World War and construction began in 2012.{{cite news |title=Czerwona wieża nad Gdańskiem |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/530122.html |work=Rzeczpospolita |date=2 September 2010 |access-date=25 September 2011 }}

History

The museum was created on 1 September 2008 by way of a regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the name Westerplatte Museum in Gdańsk. On the same day, Prime Minister Donald Tusk appointed Paweł Machcewicz as his representative for the Museum of the Second World War. The team of the representative for the museum included Piotr Majewski, historian from the Warsaw University, Rafał Wnuk and Janusz Marszalec, who was the head of the Public Education Department Office of the Institute of National Remembrance in Gdańsk from 2000 to 2007.{{Cite web |date=2024-06-27 |title=PiS składa projekt uchwały Sejmu ws. Muzeum II WŚ w Gdańsku |url=https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/696967-pis-sklada-projekt-uchwaly-sejmu-ws-muzeum-ii-ws-w-gdansku |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=wpolityce.pl |language=pl}} The purpose of the team included i.e. the development of a Museum of the Second World War programme concept. The concept has been presented to the public on 6 October 2008 at the Chancellery of the President of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw during a discussion with historians and museologists. The text of the concept and record of the discussion have been published in print,„Przegląd Polityczny” nr 91/92, 2008 and is also accessible directly via the museum's website.{{cite web|title=Materiały do pobrania « Media « Muzeum II Wojny Światowej|url=http://www.muzeum1939.pl/pl/media/materialy_do_pobrania|agency=muzeum1939.pl|access-date=2015-12-21}} The Museum also had an academic advisory board which helped in the development of the concept and contents of the exhibitions. This board had world renowned scholars of WWII and totalitarianism, including: Norman Davies, Timothy Snyder, Tomasz Szarota and Włodzimierz Borodziej.{{cite web|title=MIIWŚ. Nowy dyrektor zapowiada rychłe zmiany na wystawie|url=http://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/Muzeum-MIIWS-Nowy-dyrektor-zapowiada-rychle-zmiany-wwystawie, a,78475#.WSHitVP8v6w.facebook|agency=gdansk.pl|access-date=2017-05-21}}

On 26 November 2008, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski changed the name of this institution from the Westerplatte Museum to the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk.{{cite web|title=Zarządzenie nr 41 Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego z dnia 26 listopada 2008 r. zmieniające zarządzenie w sprawie utworzenia Muzeum Westerplatte w Gdańsku|url=http://bip.mkidn.gov.pl/media/download_gallery/index2ed3.pdf|agency=bip.mkidn.gov.pl|access-date=2015-12-21}} At the same time, he defined the scope of tasks of the facility stating: “the object of the museum’s operations is to amass a collection pertaining to the history of World War II, safeguard it, and make it available, in particular by means of exhibition, popularisation, education, and publishing”.

On 15 April 2016, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Piotr Gliński informed about combining the Museum of the Second World War and the Museum of Westerplatte and the War of 1939 (being organised), created in 2015.{{cite web|title=Obwieszczenie Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego z dnia 15 kwietnia 2016 r. o zamiarze i przyczynach połączenia państwowych instytucji kultury Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku oraz Muzeum Westerplatte i Wojny 1939|url=http://bip.mkidn.gov.pl/media/dziennik_urzedowy/p_18_2016.pdf|agency=bip.mkidn.gov.pl|access-date=2016-04-16}} Gliński's decision was influenced by the negative reviews of the Main Exhibit of the museum ordered by the ministry and penned by Jan Żaryn, Piotr Semka and Piotr Niwiński.{{cite web|title="Niewiele wspólnego z wiedzą historyczną". Muzeum II Wojny Światowej odpowiada recenzentom Glińskiego|url=http://www.newsweek.pl/historia/muzeumii- wojny-swiatowej recenzje,artykuly,391987,1.html|last=Orzechowski|first=Hubert|date=2016-07-15|access-date=2018-01-29|language=pl}}{{cite web|title=Krytyczne recenzje programu wystawy głównej Muzeum II Wojny Światowej|url=http://www.dziennikbaltycki.pl/kultura/a/krytyczne-recenzjeprogramu-wystawy-glownej-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej,10393564/|last=Zalesinski|first=Jarosław|date=2015-06-30|access-date=2018-01-29|language=pl}} This move has also been interpreted as a move to get Paweł Machcewicz removed in favor of a PiS aligned historian.{{Cite journal |last=Hoja |first=Andrzej |date=2020 |others=Joachim Von Puttkamer, Michal Kopeček, Włodzimierz Borodziej |title=An Engaged Narrative: the Permanent Exhibition of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk |url=https://digital.herder-institut.de/publications/frontdoor/index/index/docId/97 |journal=Cultures of History Forum |language=en |pages=33377 KB |doi=10.25626/0065}}{{Cite journal |last=Logemann |first=Daniel |date=2020 |others=Joachim Von Puttkamer, Michal Kopeček, Włodzimierz Borodziej |title=On ‘Polish History’: Disputes over the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk |url=https://digital.herder-institut.de/publications/frontdoor/index/index/docId/95 |journal=Cultures of History Forum |language=en |pages=1045 KB |doi=10.25626/0061}}{{Cite news |last=Szyndzielorz |first=Julia |date=2017-01-28 |title=Dispute over ‘patriotism’ delays opening of Gdańsk’s new war museum |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jan/28/gdansk-second-world-war-museum-delay-patriotism-poland |access-date=2024-10-29 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite journal |last=Hackmann |first=Jörg |date=2018-10-02 |title=Defending the “Good Name” of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742 |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |language=en |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=587–606 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742 |issn=1462-3528}}

At the end of 2016, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Gdańsk questioned the decision of the minister of culture about combining the two and ordered works to that effect to be halted until the case is examined. The Ministry of Culture deemed the court's decision as invalid.{{cite web|title=Konflikt wokół MIIWŚ: prof. Machcewicz usunięty z debaty historyków na polecenie ministra?|url=http://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/Konflikt-wokol-MIIWS-prof-Machcewicz-usuniety-z-debaty-historykow-na-polecenie-ministra,a,68009|agency=www.gdansk.pl|access-date=2017-01-16}} In January 2017, the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the Voivodeship Administrative Court's decision.{{cite web|title=Postanowienie NSA w sprawie wstrzymania wykonania zarządzenia Ministra Kultury dotyczącego połączenia Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku i Muzeum Westerplatte i Wojny 1939|url=http://www.nsa.gov.pl/komunikaty/postanowienie-nsa-w-sprawie-wstrzymania-wykonania-zarzadzeniaministra-kultury-dotyczacego-polaczenia-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej-w-gdansku-i-muzeum-westerplattei-wojny-1939,news,4,388.php|agency=Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny -Komunikaty|date=2017-01-24|access-date=2017-01-27}}

On 30 January 2017, the Voivodeship administrative court in Warsaw halted the combining of the two museums until a lawful examination of the complaint filed by the museum's management and the Commissioner for Human Rights. On 23 March, the museum was opened for the public.{{cite web|title=Aktualności|url=http://www.muzeum1939.pl/pl/aktualnosci/act/news-info/|agency=muzeum1939.pl|date=2017-03-24|access-date=2017-03-26}} On 5 April, the Supreme Voivodeship Court finally overruled the motion to suspend execution of the regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. On 6 April, Karol Nawrocki was appointed as acting director of the combined facilities.{{cite journal|title=Dr Karol Nawrocki nowym dyrektorem Muzeum II Wojny Światowej|url=http://trojmiasto.onet.pl/dr-karol-nawrocki-nowym-dyrektorem-muzeum-iiwojny-swiatowej/w0gn1b2|journal=Onet Trójmiasto|date=2017-04-06|access-date=2017-04-06|language=pl-PL}}

In September 2019, a statue of Witold Pilecki was erected in front of the museum, showing the cavalry captain in his uniform and a camp cap in hand. The piece's designer was Maciej Jagodziński-Jagennmerr, and the casting and erection cost PLN 400,000.

[http://trojmiasto.wyborcza.pl/trojmiasto/7,35612,24715868,miedzy-zyciem-i-smiercia-przed-miiwsstanie-pomnik-witolda.html Pomnik rotmistrza Pileckiego stanie przed Muzeum II Wojny Światowej]

In 2021 Karol Nawrocki left the museum to become Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance.{{cite web |author= |title=IPN. Karol Nawrocki appointed vice-president of the Institute of National Remembrance |url=https://polishnews.co.uk/ipn-karol-nawrocki-appointed-vice-president-of-the-institute-of-national-remembrance/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223205642/https://polishnews.co.uk/ipn-karol-nawrocki-appointed-vice-president-of-the-institute-of-national-remembrance/ |archive-date=23 December 2021 |access-date=23 December 2021}} He was replaced by Grzegorz Berendt.{{Cite web |title=INFORMATION ABOUT THE APPOINTMENT ON JULY 21st 2022 OF Ph.D. HAB. GRZEGORZ BERENDT AS DIRECTOR OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR MUSEUM IN GDAŃSK {{!}} Drupal |url=https://muzeum1939.pl/en/information-about-appointment-july-21st-2022-phd-hab-grzegorz-berendt-director-second-world-war/5490.html |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=muzeum1939.pl |language=en}} In 2023 Rafał Wnuk became the new director.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-02 |title=Prof. Dr. Hab. Rafał Wnuk Begins Duties as Acting Director of MSWW {{!}} Drupal |url=https://muzeum1939.pl/en/prof-dr-hab-rafal-wnuk-begins-duties-acting-director-msww/6918.html |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=muzeum1939.pl |language=en}}

Building

The Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, opened the architectural competition to design the main building of the museum. The judging panel included such experts as Daniel Libeskind and Jack Lohman, the director of the Museum of London. The winning design was created by the Gdynia-based Kwadrat architectural studio. The seat of the museum faces the Motława River and is located on Wałowa Street in close proximity to the Radunia Canal and the historical Polish Post Office Building. The museum grounds cover an area of 2.5 acres and the building covers approximately 23,000 square metres. The building consists of three major spheres, which symbolically represent the connection between the past, present and future. The most distinctive part of the building is the 40-metre tall leaning tower with a glass façade, which houses a library, reading and conference rooms as well as cafés and restaurants with a view of the panorama of Gdańsk.{{cite news |title=Museum of the Second World War |url=https://www.inyourpocket.com/gdansk/museum-of-the-second-world-war_66473v |access-date=2018-09-02}}{{cite news |title=Museum of the Second World War / Studio Architektoniczne Kwadrat |url=https://www.archdaily.com/872450/museum-of-the-second-world-war-studio-architektoniczne-kwadrat |access-date=2018-09-03}}

Management

On 7 February 2018, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński appointed new members of the museum's management board, which include: Sławomir Cenckiewicz, Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Mirosław Golon, Bogdan Musiał, Andrzej Nowak, Zbigniew Wawer, Tadeusz Wolsza and Jan Żaryn.{{cite news|url=https://muzeum1939.pl/minister-kultury-powolal-czlonkow-rady-muzeum/aktualnosci/1098.html |title=Minister Kultury powołał członków Rady Muzeum |access-date=2018-09-03}}

Reception

The museum was criticized for what has been deemed excessive meddling by the Law and Justice party during its 2015-2023 rule. The new exhibits placed a high emphasis on the victimization of ethnic Poles during the war.{{cite news |title=TVP nadaje na twórców Muzeum II Wojny Światowej. Seans bzdur i oszczerstw |url=https://oko.press/tvp-nadaje-na-tworcow-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej/ |access-date=15 October 2020 |work=oko.press}}{{cite news |last1=Ciobanu |first1=Claudia |title=Poland's WWII museum under political bombardment |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/polands-wwii-museum-under-political-bombardment/ |access-date=15 October 2020 |work=POLITICO |date=15 May 2017}}{{cite journal |last1=Hackmann |first1=Jörg |title=Defending the “Good Name” of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18 |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=2 October 2018 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=587–606 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742}} Several of the original authors filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement when the exhibits were changed without consultation, which they won in October 2020.{{cite news |title=Wyrok w procesie o wystawę w Muzeum II Wojny Światowej |url=https://oko.press/pilne-film-ipn-musi-zostac-usuniety-jest-wyrok-w-procesie-o-wystawe-w-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej/ |access-date=15 October 2020 |work=oko.press}}

In December 2017, a group of five hundred academics signed an open letter that called the changes to the museum "barbaric" and part of an attempt to turn it into a "propaganda institution," while a government spokesperson defended the changes, saying the exhibits needed to be "corrected" and adding that "Some things need to be rearranged, which happens at all museums in the world. But it is also a Polish museum financed by Polish taxpayers. Polish people simply want the museum they have financed to tell their story, to refer to the Polish point of view. The museum is located in Poland and must answer to those who financed it."{{Cite web |date=2017-12-21 |title=Outcry over Polish government’s changes to Second World War museum |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2017/12/21/outcry-over-polish-governments-changes-to-second-world-war-museum |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}}

In June 2024, a few months after a new government had been elected to take over from Law and Justice and after Rafał Wnuk had been appointed as the museum's new director, a new controversy would emerge over changes to a permanent exhibition relating to German-Nazi concentration and death camps in which Law and Justice-era additions were reversed; these included portraits of Maksymilian Kolbe and the Ulma family as well as a portrait of Witold Pilecki, though an additional portrait of Pilecki that had been part of the exhibition since before Law and Justice came to power was left in place.{{cite web |last1=Sandecki |first1=Maciej |title=Do nagonki PiS na twórców Muzeum II Wojny włączył się Kosiniak-Kamysz. Prof. Wnuk fizycznie zaatakowany |url=https://oko.press/nagonki-pis-na-tworcow-muzeum-ii-wojny |website=OKO.press |access-date=1 July 2024 |language=pl |date=29 June 2024 |quote=Po pierwsze to nieprawda, że z wystawy usuwa się rotmistrza Witolda Pileckiego. Postać Pileckiego była na wystawie prezentowana od samego początku, ma on tam swój osobny ekspozytor. Z wystawy usunięto jedynie jego zdjęcie legitymacyjne, które umieścił tam Nawrocki, a które nie pasowało do koncepcji twórców.}} The controversy was primarily fuelled by Law and Justice politicians such as former education minister Przemysław Czarnek and party leader Jarosław Kaczyński,{{cite web |last1=Owsianko |first1=Kasjan |title=PiS protestuje przed muzeum w Gdańsku. Kaczyński mówi o „biało-czerwonym froncie” |url=https://www.wprost.pl/polityka/11738026/gdansk-pis-protestuje-przed-muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej-kaczynski-nawoluje-do-utworzenia-frontu.html |website=Wprost |access-date=1 July 2024 |language=pl |date=28 June 2024}} though current Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz would also call for the reinstatement of information pertaining to Pilecki, Kolbe, and the Ulma family. A few days after the controversy began, the museum declared that, in light of an "authentic social need", work would begin on representing Kolbe and the Ulma family in its permanent exhibitions once more, albeit in a way that did not repeat the "inaccuracies and errors" of their earlier representation.{{cite web |last1=Alberczyk |first1=Izabela |title=Muzeum II Wojny Światowej jednak zmieni wystawę. "Nie powielimy nieścisłości i błędów" |url=https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114883,31103480,muzeum-ii-wojny-swiatowej-jednak-zmieni-wystawe-nie-powielimy.html |website=Gazeta.pl |access-date=1 July 2024 |language=pl |date=29 June 2024}}

Gallery

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 05.jpg|Polish city street, 1930s

File:Muzeum 2 Wojny Swiatowej Gdansk Ju 87 Stuka.jpg|German Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" at permanent exhibition

File:Muzeum 2 Wojny Swiatowej Gdansk T-34 russian tank.jpg|Soviet T-34 Tank inside

File:Muzeum 2 Wojny Swiatowej Gdansk Enigma cipher machine.jpg|Enigma machine cipher machine

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 04.jpg|A stone from Krępa Kaszubska marking an oak tree planted to celebrate the birth of Adolf Hitler https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler-Eiche

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 15.jpg|DKW motorcycle

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 09.jpg|Spanish nationalist posters

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 24.jpg|Photographs of Holocaust victims

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 13.jpg|German propaganda poster

File:Gdansk Muzeum IIWS 21.jpg|Eagle from the banner of the First Polish Corps

File:Radiostacja Nr 19 M2WS Gdańsk.jpg|Wireless Set No. 19

File:Gdańsk, Muzeum II Wojny Światowej (37470905662).jpg|Joseph Stalin's pipe

File:Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku.jpg|Exterior of the museum