Scholarly and publishing endeavours are for the State Museum at Majdanek one of the most significant areas of activity. We could not miss commemorative publications for the 80th anniversary of the institution. They are now available in our bookstore.

The first one is an anthology of known to readers "Zeszyty Majdanka" [“Majdanek Studies”]. Of the more than 200 articles that, since the 1960s appeared on pages of 26 volumes, we selected the 15 most crucial articles devoted to the history of Konzentrationslager Lublin. The authors of these works were historians professionally associated with the Museum and it is to them that we owe an in-depth state of knowledge about Majdanek. The book is also a tribute to their work and at the same time a summary of the Museum's research achievements.

The second of the anniversary publications puts the museums in the limelight and is a fruit of experts' joint labour, who represent many diverse cultural institutions from all over Poland. Volume entitled "Przeszłość w muzeach historycznych. Reprezentacje i narracje" ["The past in Historical Museums. Representations and Narratives"] mirrors the multifaceted nature of contemporary museological reflection, focusing in subsequent chapters on various areas of museum activity.

"Zeszyty Majdanka" anthology. Studies in the history of Konzentrationslager Lublin

Authors of the articles: Józef Marszałek, Zofia Murawska, Zofia Leszczyńska, Józef Kasperek, Anna Wiśniewska, Grzegorz Plewik, Edward Dziadosz, Janina Kiełboń, Marta Grudzińska, Czesław Rajca, Robert Kuwałek, Tomasz Kranz

Editors: Tomasz Kranz, Wojciech Lenarczyk, Nadia Sola-Sałamacha

“Przeszłość w muzeach historycznych. Reprezentacje i narracje”

Authors: Tomasz Kranz, Nadia Sola-Sałamacha, Marcin Owsiński, Marta Wróblewska, Aleksandra Skrabek, Andrzej Kotecki, Izabela Terela, Justyna Staszewska, Grażyna Bartnik-Szymańska, Violetta Julkowska, Joanna Zętar, Teresa Klimowicz, Łukasz Krzysiak, Marta Wołyńska, Kinga Anna Gajda, Karolina Wasiluk, Julia Chimiak, Mariusz Jastrząb, Dagmara Mańka-Wizor, Katarzyna Czekaj-Kotynia, Dmitriy Panto, Sylwia Papier, Marek Zambrzycki, Monika Krzencessa, Bartłomiej Garba

Editors: Tomasz Kranz, Aleksandra Skrabek

Reviews of the book:

Prof. dr hab. Anna Ziębińska-Witek
Institute of Cultural Studies
University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska in Lublin:

The book Przeszłość w muzeach historycznych. Reprezentacje i narracje reflects the multifaceted nature of contemporary museological reflection. Historical museums operate at the intersection of the official vision of history created by professional researchers and public history, which is the result of the involvement of entities outside the academy. This means that they are assigned not only cognitive and educational goals, but also the mission of shaping civil and ethical attitudes. [...] The book will undoubtedly satisfy the curiosity of both academic researchers, practitioners of museology, and all readers interested in contemporary Polish historical museology.

Prof. dr hab., dr h.c. Robert Traba
Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Tomasz Kranz and the team of the State Museum at Majdanek have ensured that readers are accustomed to a very high standard of their publications. As one of the few martyrological museums on a European scale, they managed not only to systematically broaden their knowledge in the field of didactics of memory in authentic places of extermination, but also to go far beyond its area. It is impossible today to imagine a theoretical and museological publication without references to the achievements of the Lublin Museum. Volume Przeszłość w muzeach historycznych. Reprezentacje i narracje continues this commendable tradition.