On 28 February 2026, the second term of Zygmunt Stępiński as Director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews comes to an end. The years 2019–2026 were a period of stability and institutional development in a demanding context shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the war in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

The past seven years brought significant programmatic achievements. Most notably, the Core Exhibition "1000 Years of the History of Polish Jews" was completed with the opening of the Bonds Gallery, dedicated to the transformations of Polish Jewish heritage around the world.

Among the temporary exhibitions presented since 2019, special importance was attached to "Around Us a Sea of Fire," prepared for the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was the first exhibition devoted to the fate of Jewish civilians during the uprising. During the preparation process, original photographic negatives taken by the Polish firefighter Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski were rediscovered. These are the only known photographs of the uprising not taken by Germans. The exhibition was seen by more than 136,000 visitors, and the accompanying publications and events received extensive coverage in Polish and international media.

Education has consistently remained one of the museum’s core pillars. Between 2020 and 2024, the "Jewish Cultural Heritage" project was implemented, reaching more than 6.6 million recipients. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign reached millions of students across Poland and, in 2025, also engaged 450,000 participants abroad. Since 2022, the museum has systematically expanded its Ukrainian-language programs and materials in response to the needs of students and teachers.

Between 2019 and 2026, the museum’s collection grew by more than 28,000 objects. Newly acquired works include pieces by Alina Szapocznikow, Wilhelm Sasnal, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Monika Drożyńska, Jonasz Stern, and Leopold Gottlieb. The expansion of the collection has strengthened the museum’s research and exhibition capacities.

A key investment milestone was securing nearly PLN 22 million from the FEnIKS programme for infrastructure modernization and the technological upgrade of the Core Exhibition. This is the largest investment grant in the museum’s history.

The 2019–2026 term marks the completion of strategic programmatic projects, financial stabilization, and investments that set the direction for the continued development of POLIN Museum.

As of 1 March, Zygmunt Stępiński will assume the role of Coordinator for Cooperation with Jewish Communities in Poland and will oversee key investment projects of the POLIN Museum as the Director’s Plenipotentiary.