Book presentation: "The Disputed War. The Gdansk Museum of the Second World War"

June 04 | 18:00

Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk was opened in 2017. It is the biggest historical museum in Poland and one of largest historical museums in Europe and in the world. It also turned out to be the most important battlefield in the realm of historical memory, culture and politics of history in Poland in the last years. The very opening of the museum was jeopardized and hardly came true because of the counteractions by the current Polish government. The concept of the Museum of the Second World was from the very beginning attacked by the nationalist right-wing as “too European”, “pseudo-universalistic”, “pacifistic” and “not Polish enough”.

Paweł Machcewicz, historian and former founding director of the Museum, tells the story of creating it, analyzes controversies it provoked and places it all within the broader framework of current cultural and memory conflicts in Europe.

Participants :

Pr. Dr. Paweł Machcewicz (currently fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin)

Pr. Dr. Joachim von Puttkamer, historian, Direktor at Imre-Kertész-Kolleg „Europas Osten im 20. Jahrhundert“ at Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena.

Moderation : Julia Röttjer, researcher at Deutsches Polen-Institut.

This event will be held in English.

Contact

Catherine Gousseff
Catherine.Gousseff  ( at )  cmb.hu-berlin.de

Location