Each year, the Council of Europe Museum Prize goes to a museum that promotes respect for human rights, helps understand contemporary social problems, supports diversity and dialogue, cares for collective memory and builds bridges between nations and cultures.

According to the committee representative for the Museum Prize, Constantinos Efstathiou (Cyprus, SOC):

‘The museum works with the strong narrative of deportation, reducing research-based material to the essentials, working with strong spatial images that give a voice to the selected authentic objects. The museum’s ability to convey history through workshops, events, media, publications and new formats is impressive and brings it to a broad audience.’

The prize-giving ceremony will take place in April 2024 in Strasbourg.

On the news of winning the prestigious award, the Museum in Białystok began to receive congratulations.

In his congratulatory letter, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz writes:

The tragic experiences that Polish society experienced thanks to the Soviet regime are an important part of the entire collective European memory. They articulate a warning to today’s and future generations, pointing out the need to constantly defend democratic values and oppose resurgent totalitarianism. This message, strong in its form and content, is becoming extremely important, especially today, in the context of the current war events taking place beyond the eastern border of Poland and the European Union. Through history, we point to contemporary problems and threats that should unite European societies in defense of shared values.

The Director of the National Institute for Museums, Paulina Florjanowicz, congratulating us on the prize, emphasized that it is not the first award in the history of the museum in Białystok:

We are glad that the Sybir Memorial Museum, only two years after its opening, has gained the highest recognition in Europe for its activities. The 2024 Council of Europe Museum Prize is another confirmation — after numerous awards and distinctions, including: Sybilla 2021 and Muzeum Widzialne 2022 (Visible Museum 2022) — that the Sybir Memorial Museum is one of the best museums in Europe.

Basil Kerski, Director of the European Solidarity Centre, which in 2016 was the first Polish institution to receive the Council of Europe Museum Prize, wrote in his congratulatory letter:

Since its opening, I have observed the great involvement of the Sybir Memorial Museum in efforts aimed to defend human rights and promote European cultural heritage. The fact that the activities of the museum, which tells the very difficult story, are noticed and appreciated outside our country is a great reason to be happy.

Vice-Rector for the Białystok Branch of the Theater Academy in Warsaw, Professor Marta Rau emphasized:

The implementation of the project of establishing the Sybir Memorial Museum and then defining the development strategy, filling all the exhibition rooms with the substantive content and constant work on the development of the facility is a huge amount of work that you and your team put in so that this place can shine with the brightest light today. Your work is an invaluable asset not only for Białystok, it is an invaluable asset for humanity.

The Ambassador of Belgium to Poland and Lithuania, Rik Van Droogenbroeck, also sent congratulations. ‘This is an example of fruitful Polish-Belgian cooperation,’ — he wrote, referring to the fact that the contractor for the permanent exhibition of the Sybir Memorial Museum was the Belgian company Tempora.

Sybiraks from all over the world also send congratulations and words of appreciation. Some of them took the form of a short film — some of them were presented at the conference on the prize.

Anna Parmhagen, one of our donors, sent her statement from Stockholm, where she has lived for years. She recalled her first contact with the Sybir Memorial Museum:

In 2018, I sent photos of the mementoes brought by my family from Kazakhstan in 1946. I found out then that they have great exhibition and historical value. I decided right then to come to Białystok for the first time in my life, I brought with me all the mementoes of my grandfather, Adolf Saraniecki. They were letters, photos and drawings that are part of the permanent exhibition. During his stay in Siberia, my grandfather was a delegate of the Polish embassy in Semipalatinsk. (…)
The newly built museum made a great impression on me and my family, both in terms of the preparation and design of the exhibition and in terms of its very specific atmosphere. Therefore, I am very happy that I could contribute to the creation of this exhibition on behalf of my side of the family. I would like to very sincerely congratulate the Sybir Memorial Museum, congratulate the 2024 Council of Europe Museum Prize.

Ricardo Villalobos Grzybowicz sent congratulations from Mexico:

I am so happy to know that the Museum and the whole staff of the Museum have been recognized with this award. It is an honor to know that all the work that you have done in the last few years to preserve the memories of our families in particular Polish-Mexican Community and what our loved ones experienced in Siberia.
It is very important for future generations that we do not make the same mistakes and that we benefit from the great example that our ancestors set for us.
Congratulations and I hope to visit your museum soon.

Krystyna Prażmowska said from Argentina:

I am very pleased to congratulate the Sybir Memorial Museum on receiving the Council of Europe Museum Prize. It is very important to me, as the daughter and granddaughter of Sybiraks, that the Museum’s work continues to develop and the memory of those who did not survive and those who survived despite inhuman conditions is further disseminated in Europe and around the world. Congratulations, I wish you continued fruitful work and greetings from Argentina!