Polish Jewish history museum chooses new director ending leadership row
Polin Museum has been without a director for months since the country's culture minister refused to accept its incumbent's reappointment
Poland’s Jewish history museum has chosen a new director, ending the controversy over its leadership.
The Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews has been without a director for months since the country’s culture minister, Piotr Glinski, refused to accept the reappointment of Dariusz Stola, who directed the museum from 2014 to 2019.
This week, Stola agreed to step down from the position in order to break the stalemate. The new director is Zygmunt Stępinski, who has been approved by Glinski and will serve for three years. Stepinski has been serving as interim director and previously was Stola’s deputy.
The stalemate dates back to the middle of last year. In May, a search committee recommended keeping Stola as director, but in September, Glinski said he would not reappoint Stola because he “had a very aggressive political policy at the museum.”
In 2018, the Polin Museum organised an exhibition on the antisemitic campaign of March 1968, which forced several thousand Jews to leave Poland. The exhibition also showed examples of contemporary antisemitism, including online entries by two journalists working in public television.
Piotr Wislicki, the board chair of Poland’s Jewish Historical Institute, disagreed with Glinski’s take.
“I consider these statements to be unfounded, undermining the credibility of the museum,” Wislicki said in a statement.
Several private donors have suspended their donations over the stalemate.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
