Poland’s WWII museum opens amid an uncertain future
WARSAW, Poland — A major World War II museum opened in northern Poland on Thursday amid plans by the conservative government to change its content to fit the government’s nationalist views.
The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk is at the centre of a standoff between the historians creating it and Poland’s populist government, which is seeking a court order to have it closed and then wants to reshape its current multi-national focus.
The museum was initiated in 2008 by then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk. But the current Law and Justice government, hostile to Tusk, wants to merge it with another museum and make it highlight Poland’s military effort in fighting the German Nazis and the nation’s own tragedy that, they believe, is not well enough known in the world.
The dispute between the museum and the government is to be decided by a court in the coming weeks.