Dariusz Stola was, until recently, the acclaimed director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. A prominent historian who had run the museum since 2014, Stola used to give lectures telling politicians to pay attention to history — but he didn’t mean like this.
Stola was forced to step aside last month after a standoff with Poland’s right-wing nationalist government after the museum highlighted anti-Semitism in Poland’s history — a complex issue that the government is intent on simplifying. The ruling Law and Justice party is especially sensitive to history involving World War II and the Holocaust, maintaining that Poland receives unfair blame for Nazi atrocities.