Kreisheimatmuseum Demmin

Abstract

The aim of the article is to try to answer the question of how the fates of the Kreisheimatmuseum Demmin museum resource and the museum institution itself were shaped. The Pomeranian museums ceased to exist in significant numbers after 1945, or their character was changed by the state adopting a different ideological and program perspective. The new border between Poland and Germany, established in 1945, caused a break in cultural identity in Pomerania. The part incorporated into Poland almost completely dissociated itself from the past, for years searching for various evidence justifying Poland’s rights to Pomerania. The western part of Pomerania became part of the German Democratic Republic, and although it remained in German cultural space, it treated the tradition very selectively. Kreisheimatmuseum Demmin is one of the museum facilities operating in historic Pomerania on the German side after 1945. For almost a century, the museum was active in various political conditions. Throughout its whole period of operation (also in adverse conditions), it functioned effectively, expanding the museum’s resource and remaining open to changes. However, despite the implementation of both the statutory and additional tasks of the museum, virtually in its century of existence, it ceased to exist for financial reasons.