INSTITUTE OF WAR LOSSES STUDY VISIT TO STUTTHOF MUSEUM

On 22 June, Dr. Agnieszka Kasperek - The Deputy Director of the Institute of War Losses, and Dr. Pawel Matwiejczuk, Chief Specialist of the Communications, Education and Publications Division of the Institute of War Losses, hosted a study visit to the Stutthof Museum/Stutthof Museum in Stutthof. The visit began with a walk around the camp's grounds, during which Dr. Danuta Drywa, an employee of the Museum, acquainted the guests with the history of the site, the permanent exhibition, and the numerous conservation challenges.

The second part of the visit was a meeting with the Director of the Stutthof Museum, Mr. Piotr Tarnowski. The conversation was devoted to the prospects for mutual relations, the forms and scope of cooperation, and the challenges facing contemporary guardians of the memory of the Second World War and its aftermath.

The Stutthof concentration camp¹ was the earliest organized camp of its kind in German-occupied Poland. It was established as early as the second day of the German invasion, 2 September 1939. Among the first prisoners were Polish clergymen (including the particularly distinguished Rev. Franciszek Rogaczewski), teachers, and representatives of such associations as the Maritime and Colonial League, involved in strengthening Polishness in the Free City of Danzig and Danzig-Pomerania. It was also the longest-operating camp, having been occupied as late as 9 May 1945. According to estimates, the Germans murdered some 65,000 people on its grounds.