“The Museum of Polish Children, which will be created in Lodz, will not allow us to forget about the shocking crimes committed against thousands of Polish children during World War II. It is our duty to preserve the memory of the death of the innocent youngest victims and to pay tribute to them,” said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Sport, Prof. Piotr Gliński, during the official announcement of the establishment of a new cultural institution called the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism. Nazi German camp for Polish children in Lodz (1942-1945).
The ceremony was also attended by Mikołaj Pawlak, Children’s Rights Ombudsman, Jarosław Szarek, PhD, President of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Dariusz Rogut, PhD, Director of the IPN Branch in Lodz, and Ireneusz Piotr Maj, PhD, who was appointed acting Director of the Museum of Polish Children by Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński.
Pointing to the uniqueness of the Museum of Polish Children, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that it would be the first institutionally separate commemoration in Poland of the often-forgotten youngest victims of German crimes during World War II. He added that the Museum will join the list of over 100 new institutions – a large network of Polish museums that have been created in the last five years and are being transformed and continue to be created as a gift to future generations.
The Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism will be organized by the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport, who will finance the construction and the cost of running the institution.
The new museum will make it possible to combine the systematic activities of the Ministry of Culture, aimed at commemorating all the victims of World War II, with the commitment of the Children’s Rights Ombudsman (who was one of the initiators of setting up the institution and obtained the patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland for this initiative) and the work and results of research conducted so far by the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Branch in Lodz.
The Museum’s task will be to collect, process, preserve, store and make available the collections related to the history of “Kinder – KL Litzmannstadt”, to create an exhibition space and a research centre to inspire reflection on the history of “Kinder – KL Litzmannstadt”, including the ordeal of Polish children during World War II in Lodz and beyond – in the Polish territories occupied by the German Third Reich and the USSR.