Celebrate with us: the fifth anniversary of the openieng of The Dialogue Centre Upheavals – the youngest branch of The National Museum in Szczecin.
Due to the pandemic we had to modify our plans and move the celebration into the virtual world. We hope, however, that this way we will also be able to commemorate the anniversary of great importance to us.
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The NMS–DCU was officially opened on January 26th 2016, on the 45th anniversary of January '71, a workers' strike that was an upheaval in relations between the society and the government. Numerous participants of those events later joined the opposition movement, built "Solidarity" trade union and maintained hope for changes after the martial law began. Then they contributed to the fall of the system. January '71 is one of the subjects of the underground exhibition housed at the pabvilion designed by Robert Konieczny, located at Plac Solidarności. The exposition also tells about other exceptional post-war historic moments which changes Szczecin, West-Pomerania, Poland and Europe.
During the five years, The NMS-DCU was visited by almost 200,000 people, several dozen temporary exhibitions were opened both in the pavilion and on the square, that is, the roof of the museum. There were also openings, happenings, concerts, theatre performances, family picnics, playgrounds during the Night of Museums, and the Light of Remembrance campaigns. In the NMS-DCU spaces, debates, book promotions, meetings with witnesses to history, and film screenings were held. Museum lessons and workshops took place, and young people also travelled with us to historical places in the country and abroad. Students of all levels of schools from Szczecin and from the region participated in educational projects of various types, they also took part in art, literary and history competitions. On the other hand, teachers willingly participated in methodological conferences. Also with them in mind, the NMS-DCU publishing series was created, presenting key socio-political upheavals.
The anniversary is a pretext for summaries and conclusions. The NMS and The NMS-DCU websites ans Facebook profiles contain several videos: reminiscent of the construction of the pavilion and the activities carried out by The NMS-DCU before the opening of the building, or telling about the most important events that took place at the facility since its opening. At the end of February, there will be an exhibition on Plac Solidarności, where you will be able to see the most interesting photos of projects that are most appreciated by the public. On the net, in turn, we will show the exhibition of the most interesting collections of The NMS-DCU entitled "What Is the Most Important". It includes, among others: photos, documents, diaries, letters, everyday objects, military items, clothing, artistic graphics, posters, maps, banknotes, coins, medals and a number of other memorabilia donated by the residents of Szczecin and of Western Pomerania (although not only). These are objects from the time of partitions, the First and Second World War, the interwar period, and the Polish People's Republic. As soon as it is possible, the exhibition will be made available to the public in The NMS-DCU Educational Room / open storage.
Despite the pandemic and the lockdown, The NMS-DCU, although closed, has been operating since March 2020 and its effects will be available at the specially prepared presentation "2020 - a Strange Year at in »Upheavals«". The next one - "Treasures of the Time of Plague" will show which objects have enriched the collections of the NMS-DCU despite the pandemic. The oldest one comes from the second half of the 19th century, the youngest are a testimony to the system change in 1989. We will also show a film with the performances of the winners of the competition for preschoolers "Singing Little Patriot" - the competition was, of course, held online.
The difficult organization of virtual celebrations has been supported by the Marshal's Office of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It prepared videos with statements about The NMS-DCU made by Olgierd Geblewicz - The Marshal of the Voivodeship, Robert Konieczny - the author of The NMS-DCU building, or the witnesses of history: Jolanta Szyłkowska, president of the Szczecin branch of the World Union of the Soldiers of Armia Krajowa and Edward Radziewicz - the leader of the strikes in the port of Szczecin in August 1988 and historians - Prof. Krzysztof Kowalczyk, director of the State Archives in Szczecin and Dr. Michał Siedziako from the Szczecin branch of the Institute of National Remembrance.
The final will be the premiere of a song and a music video inspired by the "Upheavals" name. Who will do it? This will be a surprise!
We encourage you to share your memories and thoughts about the Upheavals - online for now. In spring we plan to hold several (online) debates where historians, psychologists, sociologists, history witnesses and teachers will discuss about The NMS-DCU.
We hope that as soon as the pandemic is over, we will meet over a birthday cake and talk about what is ahead, not only about the past. And of course, we will invite you to participate in our projects for this year, which we have already been preparing.