Statement of Professor Dariusz Stola, Director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

I am pleased to learn that the founders of POLIN Museum - the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the City of Warsaw, and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland - have reached an agreement with regard to the way of selecting POLIN Museum’s director for the coming term.

An open competition with clear rules and a selection committee that all three parties agreed upon is the right way to go. I intend to enter this competition.

Zygmunt Stępiński, the current Deputy Director of the museum, will act as interim director. He has been working at the museum for seven years, and has repeatedly proven his commitment and expertise. I am deeply convinced that he will fulfil his new role well. I also have trust in the other two Deputy Directors, Jolanta Gumula and Dorota Keller-Zalewska, who remain in their posts. They will continue to implement the museum’s long-term strategy and our detailed plan of activities for the year 2019.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who in the last days have expressed their solidarity and support for us. I am most happy that POLIN Museum has so many friends of in Poland and abroad. Such gestures are particularly precious at a time of uncertainty and stress. We will remember them with gratitude.