Prof. Dariusz Stola, the new director of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews visits New York

12 kwietnia, 2014

Professor Dariusz Stola confirmed that the Core Exhibition - depicting 1000 years of life of Polish Jews - of the Museum would be open on October 28th, 2014.

The Museum is located in one of the most remarkable buildings in Warsaw - designed by a Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamäki. Eventhough the Core Exhibition is still under construction, the Museum is visited by tourists daily in large numbers.

On April 8th, Consulate General hosted an evening with professor Dariusz Stola. Professor Stola gave a presentation about the Museum - its history, role, and challenges ahead. Also present during professor Stola’s presentation were: Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the US Ryszard Schnepf, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Parliament Wanda Nowicka, and Director of the Polish Cultural Institute in New York Jerzy Onuch.

Over 200 people arrived to the Consulate, including representatives of Polish and Jewish diasporas: Jonathan Brent, director of the YIVO Institute; Cheryl Fishbein from the American Jewish Committee (AJC); David Marwell, director of the Jewish Heritage Museum; Zygmunt Rolat, chairman of the North American Council of the Musuem of the History of Polish Jews; Roman Kent, president of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous; Irene Pletka, the Museum\'s donor; Andrzej Rojek, chairman of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation. Representatives of American and Polish media were also present, including Rick Lyman, recently appointed as the Warsaw Bureau Chief of the New York Times, his wife Barbara Whitaker from the Associated Press, Pamela Fross from CNN, Gloria Kins from Society and Dipolomatic Review, Andrzej Dobrowolski from Polish Press Agency, and journalists from Nowy Dziennik - the biggest newspaper of the Polish diaspora on the East Coast.

In her introductory rearks, Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka stressed the educational and cultural importance of the Museum, which was called as the place where history, prejudice and stereotypes meet. Consul General also emphasized that the Museum was going to be a place for Christians and Jews to meet and discuss their shared history. Lastly, Consul General thanked all those who had never given up and who supported the idea of creating this Museum even when it seemed unreachable.

Ambassador Schnepf highlighted the fact that the history of Poland and history of Jews are intertwined: "the history of Poland is nonexistent without the history of Jews, and the history of Jews is nonexistet without the history of Poland". Addressing professor Stola directly, Ambassador said that he was the right person for the right position. Ambassador stated, jokingly that this is not only because they graduated from the same university - University of Warsaw - but primarily because of professor Stola\'s dedication and committment.

Following Ambassador\'s statement, professor Stola was asked by Consul General to present the Museum to the gathered guests. The new director talked about the Museum\'s history and location. The Museum is located vis-a-vis the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial, and as such its building could not have been conceptually different from the memorial. Professor Stola also explained that the Museum is the most modern and the biggest of this type in East Central Europe.

After the presentation, Q&A followed, during which many guests complemented and aplauded professor Stola for his informative presentation and expressed support for his vision of Museum\'s future.

Professor Dariusz Stola is a Polish historian, writer and Professor of History at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Stola is an expert on human migrations in the 20th century, the Holocaust as well as the Polish-Jewish relations and the history of communist regime in postwar Poland. He is the author and co-author of numerous scientific dissertations and books.