Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, head of the Pilecki, announced the dismissal of Hanna Radziejowska, the director of the Berlin bureau, following her alleged reports to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage questioning his conduct.
Changes at the Pilecki Institute
During a press conference on Thursday, August 14, Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, the head of the Pilecki Institute, announced that he had dismissed Hanna Radziejowska from her role as director of the Berlin branch, according to the Polish Press Agency. The institute also released a statement on the matter, noting that the decision was taken for “objective reasons.” The statement added that “Hanna Radziejowska’s recent actions severely undermined the employer’s trust. The over‑interpretations and insinuations she presented on social media and traditional media regarding the Institute’s projects exceeded the norm of employer‑employee relations. In particular, sharing internal correspondence with third parties and expressing her concerns about the Institute’s activities without prior internal discussion constitutes a breach of limits.” The successor to Hanna Radziejowska will be announced next week; until then, the Berlin branch will operate without interruption.
The Controversial Seminar Planning Case
In early August, an article in the newspaper ‘Rzeczpospolita’ revealed that the Pilecki Institute had planned a seminar on the return of cultural property from Poland to Germany, a project presumably guided by Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz. According to the publication, in July the director of the Berlin branch, Hanna Radziejowska, wrote to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and to the chargé d’affaires of the German Embassy in Berlin, Jan Tombiński, expressing the institute’s expectation of preparing a series of seminars, including one on the return of Polish cultural goods to Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and private assets belonging to people of Jewish origin. The project was to be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. The document cited in the newspaper claimed that the director’s proposal, who also serves as the Polish‑German relations officer, contradicts Polish state policy and raises serious concerns about negative consequences for both the Ministry and the Pilecki Institute.
Dispute at the Pilecki Institute
The institute denied the newspaper’s claims and accused Berlin branch staff of lying. In a statement dated August 5, it read: “The Pilecki Institute, together with the Ministry, organizes an international seminar series on provenance research regarding Polish cultural goods seized during the Second World War. Contrary to false suggestions from Hanna Radziejowska, the institute and the Berlin branch director never planned any meetings intended to transfer Polish cultural property to any legal or physical persons.” A comment from the Ministry of Culture echoed this, stating that “the Pilecki Institute has never conducted or granted any restitution talks concerning cultural property.” Nevertheless, Hanna Radziejowska and her substitute from the Berlin branch, Marcin Fałkowski, in a note published in ‘Rzeczpospolita’ on August 8, disputed the institute’s and ministry’s assertions. They reaffirmed that the seminar idea originated from Prof. Ruchniewicz during an online meeting, stating: “The proposal, made in the presence of two of our team members who signed the note to the Ministry, exceeded the bounds of provenance research and could have taken on a political tone. Both individuals confirm the content of the discussion and do not retract what was said.”
