We Collect, We Build, We Remember – a campaign to collect souvenirs for the MGW permanent exhibition

“All artifacts directly related to or alluding to the history of the Warsaw Ghetto and the people who lived there are of great value to us, artifacts that will help us tell the story of this place, and for obvious reasons, not many of them have survived, ” said Magdalena Hartwig, head of the Collections Department of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

The campaign aims to save the items from oblivion and present a testament to the times. The items acquired for the Warsaw Ghetto Museum collection will be used for the permanent exhibition. The donated memorabilia will be protected by conservation and secured against damage, degradation, and dispersal. We are interested in a variety of items and documents – letters, postcards, certificates, ID cards, diaries, notes – ephemera such as posters, leaflets, placards, programs, brochures, as well as photographs, photo albums, and books. We are looking for everyday items, religious objects, and works of art – including contemporary items inspired by this chapter of history and the Holocaust ," explains Magdalena Hartwig, adding that due to its location in the former Bersohn and Bauman Children's Hospital, we are also interested in items related to hospital equipment, including medical and pharmaceutical equipment, furniture, guides, textbooks, prescriptions, labels, and documents.

We are looking for items ranging from home furnishings – furniture, dishes, toys, cutlery – to street infrastructure elements such as signs and even rickshaws , Hartwig adds.

The Warsaw Ghetto Museum is seeking items and archival materials relating to the history of the Warsaw Ghetto, including the history of Jews in Poland, and in particular in Warsaw, objects bearing witness to the Holocaust and the fate of Jews during World War II in Warsaw and beyond – in the territories of Poland occupied by the Third German Reich, the post-war fate of Jews in Poland, the founders of the historic Bersohn and Bauman Children's Hospital building, as well as the 19th-century and interwar Jewish community of Warsaw.

We look forward to hearing from you at: bibliotek@1943.pl

The campaign was launched during a press conference organised in connection with the deposit of the original Stroop Report, held by the Institute of National Remembrance, at the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

The Warsaw Ghetto Museum is an institution within the organization. Its purpose is to present the tragic events that took place during the German occupation of Poland during World War II and to honor the memory of those who lived and suffered in the ghetto at that time. The museum also commemorates other ghettos.

The institution was established in March 2018. Since then, a permanent exhibition team has been established and developed its curriculum. The institution's structure has expanded to include substantive departments: Research, Exhibitions, Education, and the Collections Department. The museum has undertaken a number of activities commemorating events related to the Warsaw Ghetto, including the anniversaries of the beginning of the Grossaktion and the outbreak of the Ghetto Uprising, through exhibitions (five outdoor exhibitions), educational activities (workshops for teachers), and promoting history. The institution's long-term plan includes the immediate purchase of a building, previously leased from the Marshal's Office of the Mazovian Voivodeship, which formerly housed a hospital funded by the Bersohn and Bauman families.

In October 2020, a tender was announced for "Development of design documentation for the investment: 'Construction of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum,' including a permanent exhibition design, obtaining required administrative approvals and decisions, and providing authorial supervision." The Warsaw Ghetto Museum is also working on building a collection and accumulating artifacts that will be displayed in the permanent exhibition.

Miłka Skalska, spokeswoman and head of the Communication Department

Photo: Jacek Turczyk