Westerplatte, 1939. WW II begins.

The Kwadrat Architects’ Studio from Gdynia in northern Poland is the winner of an international tender for the design of a Museum of World War Two, to be built in Gdańsk.

Over 120 designs by architects from around the world  have been submitted to an international jury, which included leading Polish and foreign architects, art historians and artists, such as Daniel Libeskind, George Ferguson, Hans Stimmann, Wiesław Gruszkowski, Grzegorz Buczek and Jack Lohman, the director of the Museum of London.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was present at the announcement of the jury’s verdict, said that the construction of the Museum of World War Two in Gdansk will be given priority status, ‘even at the time of crisis’.  

“Gdansk, where World War Two began’, he said, ‘is not only the symbol of that war but also a place which epitomizes post-war revival,” said the prime minister.

PM Tusk offered words of thanks to Professor Norman Davies, the eminent British historian and writer on Poland, for his support of the idea of the Gdansk museum.

The Kwadrat Studio has received 80, 000 euros as a cash prize and an invitation to participate in the preparation of the final construction project and the development of the entire museum site.

Construction work is to begin in 2012 and the opening of the Museum of World War Two is scheduled for 1 September 2014, the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of war. It is to document the history of World War Two in the context of  both ‘big politics’ of the time and the experiences of the ordinary people, in Poland and other countries. (mk/pg)