Gallery 12 | To Stop the Violence

From the perspective of the contemporary generation, the Holocaust as an event had far reaching ramifications which today make it possible to understand our present. It is therefore obvious that the historical message of Holocaust museums and exhibitions dealing with this topic should remain in dialogue with the history, cultural values, and current situation of the societies in which a given museum operates.

The final part of the exhibition refers, in an artistic installation, to the Jewish, Polish, and universal significance of the crimes committed by Nazi Germany. It deals with the crimes of genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Poles committed by Germany as well as the extermination of other ethnic groups in the territory of occupied Poland (Romani, concentration camp prisoners from various nationalities, Soviet POWs, and others). Among others, we are recalling the memory of the Holocaust victims by artefacts found during the excavations in the former Warsaw ghetto.

The gallery also focuses on the physical and juridical resistance. It tells the story of Raphael Lemkin, the person who coined the term ‘genocide’ as a crime against humanity. Another part of the gallery is dedicated to the memory of the genocides of 20th century genocides, including the crimes committed against the Armenians in World War I, the Nazi genocide, and various genocides after World War II.

The video features dr Jacek Konik, the gallery curator.