MUSEUM OF THE MISSED OPPORTUNITIES(60 YEARS OF THE REGIONAL MUSEUMIN BARLINEK, P. 2)

The papers first part spoke about the foundingof the Regional Museum in Barlinek and the first 15 yearsof its operation as seen against regional museology. TheMuseums operation was based on the activity of its founderCzesaw Panik. Over the last period under his management,and subsequently under his successor Jzef Krupa, theMuseum was given the opportunity to acquire a uniquecollection and become an institution of a national impact:by acquiring the legacy of the writer, member of the pre-WWII Kwadryga literary group Stefan Flukowski. Subsequently,an attempt was made to mount an exhibition and a museumof the Woldenberg Prisoners (Polish officers from Oflag II C inWoldenberg/Dobiegniew). In both cases the attempts werethwarted by central institutions: the District and MunicipalPublic Library in Szczecin and the organization representingformer Woldenberg prisoners. These institutions evidentlypatronized the Barlinek Museum, failing to take local needsas well as historical and social contexts into consideration.The ambiguous attitude of those centres accompanied byuntransparent circumstances of acquiring the collections hadtheir short- and long-term impact, essentially leading to thelimitation of the Barlinek Museums offer.