Museums and Engaged Humanities Facing the Russian War Against Ukraine: A View from Poland

CEMES Lecture with Elżbieta Kwiecińska (Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences) and Małgorzata Ławrowska von Thadden (ODMIN Foundation).

Elżbieta Kwiecińska and Małgorzata Ławrowska von Thadden will present the work of Fundacja OBMIN (meaning “exchange” in Ukrainian), a Poland-based organization that, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has created a platform for dialogue and cooperation between Ukrainian museums and their European counterparts. Today, this platform includes 143 museums from across Ukraine, ranging from internationally recognized institutions like the Maidan Museum and the World War II Museum in Kyiv, to smaller regional and local museums. Many are located in frontline zones, making daily communication, monitoring, and material and logistical support all the more critical.

The speakers will share OBMIN’s experiences in fostering close collaboration with Ukrainian museum professionals and in building networks with influential donors and political stakeholders across Europe. The lecture will explore the profound epistemological, ethical, and political challenges faced by Ukrainian cultural institutions under the conditions of war and partial occupation.

Key questions include: How are Ukrainian museums responding to the ongoing war? How are their activities and cultural missions evolving in this context? What visions are emerging for their postwar future? Do Polish and Ukrainian museum professionals encounter similar dilemmas, shaped by a shared history of war, the Holocaust, forced expulsions, Nazi atrocities, and Russian authoritarianism? And how might Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the museum sector contribute to rethinking contentious history and advancing postwar reconstruction?