We, the undersigned, respectfully request the Polish government to permit the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk to operate within the frame of its current establishment.

The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk opened on 23 March 2017. The remarkable museum shows how work of historical sympathy and research can both bring us to, and yet bring us out of, events of cataclysmic disaster. This article by Neal Ascherson in the London Review of Books, 19 October 2017, expresses admiration for the museum’s content as it is currently displayed (except for the final exhibit, since imposed by the government): www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n20/neal-ascherson/diary The current government of Poland is actively working significantly to change the museum’s existing exhibition. In the judgment of the current Polish government, the museum is insufficiently nationalistic in its presentation of specifically Polish suffering and heroism. In our understanding, the experience of Poland, both its heroism and martyrdom, is the central theme of the exhibition, aptly related to the wartime experience of other nations, which makes the fate of Poland more significant and understandable, especially to foreigners. We therefore invite you to sign the petition below, which is being circulated to scholars world wide before being presented to the Polish government.