INFORMATION ABOUT THE APPOINTMENT ON JULY 21st 2022 OF Ph.D. HAB. GRZEGORZ BERENDT AS DIRECTOR OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR MUSEUM IN GDAŃSK

On July 21st this year, Ph.D. Hab. Grzegorz Berendt was appointed by Prof. Piotr Gliński, vice-president of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, as Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk for a 7-year term.

Ph.D Hab. Grzegorz Berendt, professor at the University of Gdańsk, is the author of over 100 scientific and over 30 popular science publications. His academic achievements include four independent monographs as well as co-authorship of 7 books. He specialises in the history of Poland in the 20th century, particularly issues related to the mass murder of Jews on Polish soil during the German occupation, the post-war history of the Jewish community as well as the social and political history of Gdańsk, Lębork, Puck, Pruszcz Gdański and Kashubian rural communities.

In 1989, he joined the Institute of History at the University of Gdańsk and continues his work there. In 2006, he took up additional employment at the Gdańsk branch of the Institute of National Remembrance - the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. In 2007–2008, he coordinated investigations conducted by several dozen people as part of the INDEX research project devoted to Polish citizens repressed by the German Nazi occupiers for helping Jews. Between the years 2008–2013 he was the head of the Branch Office of Public Education of the Institute of National Remembrance- the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk,  coordinating the publishing branch. He stopped working at the Institute of National Remembrance in May 2017, although he is currently still an advisor to the president of this institution. From May 6th, 2017 to July 23rd, 2021, he was the Deputy Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk in charge of research. From July 24th, 2021 to July 20th, 2022, he was the acting director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. He is the editor-in-chief of the Institute of National Remembrance magazine ‘Polish Jewish Studies’ along with the periodical of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk titled ‘War and Memory’.

He is a member of the Program Council of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, of the council of museums at the Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Auschwitz, the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Who Saved Jews in World War II in Markowa, as well as of the Witold Pilecki Memorial Council at the Institute of Solidarity and Bravery.

On April 1st, 2022, he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Poland, as Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council.

He has been awarded, among other honours, the Golden Cross of Merit (2009), the Medal of the National Education Commission (2009), the Pro Memoria Medal, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2016) and the Medal of Merit for the Health of the Nation.