Martin Poljak

The Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo was founded in 1962. The main goal of the museum is to collect, preserve, research and display the primary source documents about the camp. Many historical records concerning the Stutthof camp were lost during the destruction of the facilities from January 1945 onward. Numerous documents were burned, the rest was packed and transported alongside the evacuating inmates. The SS however abandoned the documents in a roadside ditch in the Lauenburg area (today Lębork). When the Soviet Army crossed the same area, the documents were recovered and sent to the Governing Board of the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw. Currently, the museum archives hold 69.000 archival units (125 linear meters). The Museum is established in some of the buildings of the camp. The former German headquarters for instance is now a cinema. There are also permanent exhibits with videos and artefacts: objects of camp life, illegally crafted objects, illegal artwork created by the inmates (drawings, pictures, portraits, decorative caskets, rings, signets, crosses) and post-war works of art, dedicated to the memory of the victims of Stutthof. Thus the museum strives to protect and investigate the heritage of the camp, and to make its visitors aware of the brutal and inhumane effects of war.

Poland

<strong>Museum Stutthof is located in the former German Stutthof concentration camp. The museum preserves, researches and displays archival records and historical artefacts. Exhibitions and videos offer visitors a haunting insight into the lives of the 110.000 people that were imprisoned here during the Second World War.</strong>

The Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo was founded in 1962. The main goal of the museum is to collect, preserve, research and display the primary source documents about the camp. Many historical records concerning the Stutthof camp were lost during the destruction of the facilities from January 1945 onward. Numerous documents were burned, the rest was packed and transported alongside the evacuating inmates. The SS however abandoned the documents in a roadside ditch in the Lauenburg area (today Lębork). When the Soviet Army crossed the same area, the documents were recovered and sent to the Governing Board of the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw. Currently, the museum archives hold 69.000 archival units (125 linear meters).

The Museum is established in some of the buildings of the camp. The former German headquarters for instance is now a cinema. There are also permanent exhibits with videos and artefacts: objects of camp life, illegally crafted objects, illegal artwork created by the inmates (drawings, pictures, portraits, decorative caskets, rings, signets, crosses) and post-war works of art, dedicated to the memory of the victims of Stutthof. Thus the museum strives to protect and investigate the heritage of the camp, and to make its visitors aware of the brutal and inhumane effects of war.

Muzeum Stutthof

Muzealna 6, 82-110 Sztutowo, Pologne

Photos