Speaker: Dariusz Stola, professor of history, Polish Academy of Sciences; director, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Standing in what was once the heart of Jewish Warsaw, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a cultural and educational center featuring temporary exhibitions, and offering a wide range of cultural programs. The grand opening of the museum took place on October 28, 2014, unveiling the Core Exhibition that focuses on 1000 years of Jewish life in Poland. POLIN supports workshops, debates, and research drawing on the expertise of scholars and museum professionals from around the world to create a vibrant place of exchange and dialogue.

Thanks to the support of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland and donors from all over the world, the exhibitions will present a different chapter of the story of Polish Jews enabling visitors to come into intimate contact with those who lived that story through images, artifacts, first-person accounts, and interactive multimedia. The Museum was designed by the Finnish studio Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, which received several prestigious awards for its exceptional architecture.

Dariusz Stola is director of the POLIN Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, professor of history at the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences and Collegium Civitas, and a fellow at the Center for Migration Research at Warsaw University. He has published eight books and more than 100 articles on international migrations in the 20th century, the communist regime in Poland, Polish-Jewish relations, and the Holocaust, as well as on Polish debates about these pasts. Professor Stola will also give a lecture at U-M on April 21on his research, "A Country with No Exit? Migrations from Poland 1949-89."

In 2014, the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies (CPPS) at the University of Michigan signed an official affiliation with POLIN, facilitating collaboration on research exchanges for faculty and pedagogic activities for U-M students. Professor Stola’s lecture is the first event marking this affiliation, and he will meet with faculty and students during his visit. This event is also part of an ongoing Polish-Jewish series co-sponsored by CPPS and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.