Mazel tov to Jacek Stawiski, who has been named the new Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow.
Stawiski, a prominent journalist and also researcher in Polish-Jewish history and relations, will take up his post November 1.
He replaces the museum’s longtime director (and JHE friend) Jakub Nowakowski, who after 13 years heading the Galicia Museum has moved to Cape Town to head the Holocaust and Genocide Centre there.
Stawiski has a long career in journalism as well as academic degrees in studies related to Jewish history.
“We are convinced that the competencies and professional experience of the new Director and his personal involvement will systematically strengthen the Museum’s position and enable its continuation to develop,” the Museum board said in a Facebook post announcing the appointment.
Since 1992 he has worked as journalist, commentator and media manager at the BBC World Service, at RMF (the biggest Polish private radio channel, where he was head of news and current affairs) and at TVN24, Poland’s first independent, private news channel.
Between 2021 and 2023 he worked as the communication/PR specialist at the KL Plaszow Memorial Museum, currently under development in Kraków. He has produced documentary films on Polish Jewish and Israeli topics and taken part in Israel-Polish-EU dialogue initiatives. In 2016-2020 he was a member of the Council of the International Education Center on Auschwitz and Holocaust.
“The Galicia Jewish Museum is a unique place in the cultural landscape of Krakow, Poland and Europe,” Stawiski said in a statement. “I am both moved and motivated that by joining the Museum I will be able to carry on the previous Director’s fine leadership in working to commemorate Jewish history, to preserve Jewish heritage in Poland and Europe and to develop Jewish life and culture.”
The Galicia Jewish Museum is located in a building at Dajwór 18 Street, Krakow, but it also leases other premises in Kazimierz, Krakow’s former Jewish district, including part of the High Synagogue building.
It receives about 70,000 visitors annually.
The Museum exists to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and celebrate the Jewish culture of Polish Galicia, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective. It is a registered charity in Poland. The objectives of the Museum are to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions typically associated with the Jewish past in Poland and to educate both Poles and Jews about their own histories, while encouraging them to think about the future.
Home to the permanent photographic exhibition, Traces of Memory, the Museum also shows a rich range of temporary exhibitions, both curated in-house and sourced from around the world. It has an extensive cultural and education programme, providing a range of services for both individual and group visitors. The Museum also operates one of the largest Jewish bookshops in Poland, a kosher café, and facilities suitable for workshops and conferences.
Read the announcement on the museum web site
1 comment on “Poland: Galicia Jewish Museum names Jacek Stawiski its new Director”
How do I connect with Mr. Jacek Stawiski directly. My father was from Pilzno and he constructed a memorial obelisk for family members who were exhumed from Polomejia and reburied in Pilzno. I am in possession of the identity of the Polish family who attempted to save family members and I would like to a have children’s playground built in memory of both the Polish farmer and the family he tried to save.