Upon MEP Anna Fotyga’s invitation, a delegation of the Museum’s employees and volunteers went to Belgium

A visit in the European Parliament and a meeting with Anna Fotyga, MEP, who had invited the Museum’s employees and volunteers to Belgium, constituted the highlight of the trip.

However, prior to the visit and the meeting, the participants of the trip had had a chance to see two of the most interesting cities in Belgium as regards history and architecture – Brussels and Bruges. Thanks to relations established during last year’s World Battlefield Museums Forum, the delegation also visited the Waterloo battlefield – the scene of Napoleon Bonaparte’s final defeat, and Mémorial 1815 – a remembrance site devoted to this critical battle in the history of the world. 

At the start of their visit to the European Parliament, the delegation participated in a conference on the annexation of Crimea by Russia. Next, the group met Anna Fotyga, MEP, who showed them her work and her ongoing projects. During their free time, some guests participated in a conference devoted to Taiwan, some visited the Parlamentarium – a special educational visitors’ centre of the European Parliament, while others explored the neighbourhood on their own.

The visit ended with a poetic evening prepared by the Museum’s employees, which was devoted to the work of Grażyna Chrostowska, a poet, prisoner and victim of the German concentration camp in Ravensbrück. The event was held in the Parliament’s library. The meeting consisted of a screening of Magdalena and Rafał Kołodziejczyk’s film entitled “Behind Bars are Trees of Green”, a speech by Karol Nawrocki, PhD, Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and Grażyna Chrostowska’s poems in artistic interpretations by Magdalena Gajewska, Elżbieta Bęben, Bogumiła Bęben and Aleksandra Jóźwiak. The evening ended with a speech dedicated to the Generation of Columbuses and wartime poetry, delivered by Tomasz Szturo, PhD, Deputy Director of the Museum.

Hereby, the Museum would like to express its heartfelt thanks to Anna Fotyga, MEP, for inviting the employees and volunteers and enabling them to spend a few very intensive and interesting days in Belgium.