In light of the impasse caused by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage’s failure to honor the outcome of the competition for the post of director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, with the institution’s best interest at heart, concerned for Polish-Jewish relations and Poland’s image in the world, we have reached a decision. Having accepted Professor Dariusz Stola’s most difficult yet exceptionally rational statement in which he agreed to step aside and relinquish his rights as the winner of the competition for the post of director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews under the condition that an agreement between the Museum’s three co-founders is reached with regard to nominating a new candidate, we thereby designate Mr. Zygmunt Stępiński as a joint candidate of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute and the City of Warsaw to take up the post of POLIN Museum director for the incoming term. Mr. Stępiński’s candidature has been consulted with the representatives of Jewish groups, the donors and Friends of POLIN Museum.
Mr. Zygmunt Stępiński has held the post of Acting Director of POLIN Museum since March 2019. He has a substantial experience in the field of management, including management of institutions of culture. He has earned absolute trust of the Museum team and donors, as well as the Jewish milieus both in Poland and abroad.
We do hope that the Minister of Culture shares our opinion on this particular candidate and that he agrees to nominate him for the post.
As the term of POLIN Museum Acting Director is drawing to an end, we are looking forward to the Minister’s prompt decision—for the sake of the Museum and of the Polish national interests which suffer due to the ongoing controversies over the nomination for the post of director of one of the leading institutions of culture in Poland.