State Museum at Majdanek 1944–2024. An Illustrated History

The State Museum at Majdanek is the world first institution established on the grounds of a former camp. Over the eight decades, the Museum has undergone a remarkable transformation and evolved both as a repository of material traces of the past, and as a living institution that responds to social change, rises to new challenges, and sets benchmarks in the field of historical museology. Its conservation, exhibition, educational, scholarly, and publishing activities are presented in the publication entitled „The State Museum at Majdanek 1944–2024. An Illustrated History.”

The book paints a chronological portrait of the institution’s development that is illustared mainly with the archival museum’s photographic collections, which „breathe life into the names that appear in the documents and scholarly publications and transform the realities of the events described from abstractions into vivid images. In the emotions captured in these photographs – emotions absent from the chroniclers’ records – the story finds its full voice: the terror of the first visitors, the deep emotion of former prisoners attending commemorative ceremonies, and the joy of museum staff receiving recognition for their work” – as stated in the „Forword.”

By means of over 350 photographs, the book documents the collective efforts of many generations: former prisoners, early staff members, researchers, educators, and supporters both in Poland and abroad. The pictures illustate not only the historical record, but also the breadth of functions and responsibilities embraced by the Museum, which combines scholarly research and public education with a commitment to the preservation of memory.