What does it mean for a country to have an historical policy? For Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, this question begins and ends in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. Historical policies—shaped by myriad realms of public discourse from politics to media to museums— engender civic attitudes; they give form to what it means to be a citizen in a certain place and time. As the museum’s Program Director, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett leads the museum toward what she believes matters for Polish citizens, and ultimately toward a modern historical policy. She makes a meaningful distinction between “traditional” and “modern” museums—the former maintains the status quo and perpetuates a neutral view of history, while the former shakes things up. And when Kirshenblatt-Gimblett shakes things up, the dust may never settle— and all for the better. POLIN is at the center of political debates in Poland surrounding the ongoing national agenda to erase Holocaust shame from the nation, while the POLIN museum refuses to gloss over Poland’s involvement in these atrocities. In addition to interrogating dominant narratives about the Holocaust, the museum has dedicated a recent exhibit to the history of the anti-Semitic government campaign in 1968 that resulted in 50% of Jews fleeing Poland permanently. The museum archives the aftermath of these events as survivors convene and discuss the traumas and their ramifications in present-day Poland, and as Polish and International visitors seek answers at POLIN.
After hearing Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett speak about the role the POLIN museum has played in recent political conversations in Poland, I was inspired to visit one of our local museums in Milwaukee–The Milwaukee Art Museum. Though the art museum has a very different, arguably broader focus, the cultural potency of the current exhibitions struck me. From “The San Quentin Project: Nigel Poor and the Men of San Quentin State Prison” to “Family Pictures” to “Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America” the museum is, in different ways in each exhibit, engaging with the formation of an historical policy. In Poland, the POLIN museum is shaping what it can mean to be Polish, offering a place of reckoning for the Jewish population and their troubled politics surrounding the triumphs and tragedies of their past there. In Milwaukee, exhibits like “Family Pictures” call attention to racial histories in the United States and the ongoing misrepresentation and erasure of black history. In Milwaukee, America’s Black Holocaust Museum is scheduled to reopen this fall. A museum that “builds public awareness of the harmful legacies of slavery in America and promotes racial repair, reconciliation, and healing,” the ABHvM is a strong example of Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s modern museum, which views history as a starting point for debate, justice, and optimism. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett believes that ultimately, museums help foster democracy. As nationalist and xenophobic policy spreads in both the United States and Poland, among other European countries, perhaps these museums can indeed serve as sites of conscience for histories that need desperately to be known.
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Joni Hayward
PhD Student in Digital, Cinema & Media Studies at UWM
Dr. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s lecture was given on Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 pm, and was titled “The Role of Museums in Perilous Times: What’s Happening in Poland?” The talk was funded by UWM’s Sam & Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies