title: The war that never ends
abstract: Museums are, for political authorities, not onlyawaytorepresent,visualize, and exhibit the past but alsoaconvenient medium to encouragesocial cohesion and promotec ommunal and national identity.B oth powerful and vulnerable spaces,museums are symbolic of public history.The experience of Pawe Machcewicz, historian, founder,a nd dismissed director,i sa ne xcellent example of this contradictory situation. His book presents af ascinating story of how museums are created, from the very earlystages of