The LRE Foundation is a growing international organization responsible for projects that aim to preserve and valorize the cultural heritage related to the Second World War. It has national representations in multiple European countries including Brussels, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and UK. The newly created LRE Poland has recently joined this group with Joanna Roman, a historian and project manager being in charge of it.
LRE Poland aims to explore the projects of the LRE Foundation such as Liberation Route Europe or Europe Remembers within the Polish context, including the creation of a new Polish network of trails and the establishment of lasting collaborations in the region.
Rémi Praud, Managing Director of the LRE Foundation, commented on this significant step: “The establishment of LRE Poland marks a milestone in promoting remembrance activities in this country. We are proud of Joanna and those who supported this launch, and we look forward to future cooperation with our Polish partners.” Over the past years, successful collaborations have been established in Poland with institutions such as the Museum of Gdańsk, the Home Army Museum, the Sybir Memorial Museum and the Grodzka Gate-NN Theatre Centre in Lublin. In addition, LRE Poland is also cooperating with universities and other WWII institutions to further develop its network.
Future plans include coordination of partnerships in Eastern Europe, covering Czechia, Slovakia, the Baltic States, Moldova, the Balkans, and beyond. Joanna Roman, the new Director of the LRE Poland: “I’m thrilled to commence this meaningful and responsible journey of creating and implementing WWII remembrance initiatives and to cooperate with local partners and authorities. I believe it will play a vital role in making the complex Polish WWII history a coherent part of European memory. I’m honoured to be working on building bridges between great institutions and regions as we collectively strive to make WWII history accessible to everyone.”
Currently, the efforts of the Foundation focus on building a network of members and partners and organizing the LRE Forum 2025, which will take place in Krakow between March 10 and 13.
This is just the starting point of an exciting journey, through which LRE Poland aims to promote the history and heritage of WWII and to commemorate its veterans.