Dr Bartłomiej Bydoń takes part in the panel discussion
“Stones of Memory: Monuments, Cemeteries and Museums”
On 20 March 2024, the DeBeKa Gallery at 11 Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw hosted the panel discussion “Stones of Memory: Monuments, Cemeteries and Museums”, organised by the Pilecki Institute.
Alongside Dr Bartłomiej Bydoń, Head of the Research Section of the Katyn Museum, the panel featured Aleksandra Czerobska, the Pilecki Institute Director’s Representative for commemorating the Augustów Round-up; Dr Łukasz Faszcza, historian at the Memorial House of the Augustów Round-up; Dr Wiesława Młynarczyk, Polish philologist and Holocaust and post-war Jewish history educator at the Warsaw Ghetto Museum; and Dr Beata Nessel-Łukasik, museum professional and researcher of social memory at the Maria Grzegorzewska University. The discussion was moderated by Wojciech Markert of the Pilecki Institute’s Commemoration and Education Department.
The discussion focused on the significance of material forms of commemorating the past – monuments, cemeteries, museums and memorial sites – and their role in shaping collective memory. The participants explored how societies preserve the memory of tragic and painful events, as well as the processes through which such memory may fade, be suppressed, distorted or deliberately erased.
One of the key issues discussed was how to speak about the crimes of the Second World War today and how knowledge of them should be passed on to future generations. The participants also considered the significance of monuments and commemorative plaques and their impact on the formation of social memory.
The participation of a representative of the Katyn Museum – the only institution represented on the panel whose work focuses on commemorating the victims of Soviet crimes – provided an opportunity to present the Museum’s experience in documenting and commemorating the Katyn Massacre. It also prompted reflection on the role of museums and memorial sites – a form of infrastructure of memory policy – in preserving knowledge about the victims of crimes and passing it on to future generations.
