Warsaw Fellowship 2016

What should be remembered?

Maria Babińska, 2016 Ideas Incubator Fellow, Poland

What should be remembered? Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews as a stand for the importance of a holistic approach to collective memory. Second World War and Holocaust remembrance play an important part in collective memories all around the world. The tragedy of individuals and communities within the process of mass murder are reflected upon and commemorated in various ways - sometimes by symbols, sometimes by statues, testimonies, movies and in many other ways.

In the Polish context the issue of commemorating is even more critical. The Second World War can serve as a point of reference and a possibility of manipulation for all sides of the political spectrum. By focusing the collective memory on the tragedy of genocide, people easily forget, that Poland wasn't just the place where Jews perished. Since the Middle Ages Polish lands were home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. PolinMuseum of the History of Polish Jews was created to address this void in remembrance and convince the public (both Polish, Jewish and international) that Jewish life in Poland shouldn’t be  remembered only through Auschwitz. The main goal of the museum is to preserve the memory of a vibrant community that used to live on these lands and to show, that the Holocaust wasn’t the logical end to their story. As one of the creators of the permanent exhibition of the museum, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, explained, the aim was to focus on the history narrated by voices from the past. Therefore, the visitor won’t find any unnecessary academic commentaries. He is mostly spoken to by sources from the time - citations, books, letters, charts, maps, images and all that aiming to show, the diversity of Polish Jewish life on these lands. The museum also gives the message, that the history of the Jewish community in Poland doesn’t end in 1945 but continues until this day. Surprisingly the Jewish minority in Poland is still growing, as some people discover their roots and decide to get involved in the revival of Jewish life.

Whereas for many due to the World War II atrocities Poland can be seen as a graveyard, the Polin museum is fighting against this understandable but still simplistic view. Polish-Jewish relations are clearly complicated not only in the context of collective memory. Unfortunately antisemitism is still present in Poland. Also, it often serves as vocabulary for hateful comments towards other groups, like Muslims. While clearly there is still a lot of work to be done, one thing is sure: the presence and the activity of Polin Museum is beneficial in fighting against all kinds of prejudices and can be serving as a platform for communication between Poles and Jews and other groups through dialogue on common history.

Maria Babińska