In Memoriam Marian Turski
Photo: Maciej Jaźwiecki
Remembering Marian Turski (1926-2025)
It is with tremendous sorrow that the American Friends of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews mourns the loss of Marian Turski (1926–2025), a remarkable and indispensable leader. He was a founder of POLIN Museum, which tells the 1,000-year history of Polish Jews. Most crucially, Mr. Turski shaped the museum’s mission and ethos. A leading voice among the Museum’s founders, he understood that it must be a museum that stands in solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized, a key lesson he drew from Polish Jewish history and his experiences during the Holocaust.
Born in June 1926 in Druskienniki, Poland (today Druskininkai in Lithuania), Turski experienced World War II and the Holocaust as a teenager. His route to survival took many harrowing twists and turns. From the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were incarcerated from 1940 to 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz. He survived two death marches, the first from Auschwitz to Buchenwald and the second to Theresienstadt, where he was finally liberated.
After the war, Turski remained in Poland, where he committed himself to building postwar Polish society. He settled in Warsaw and created a new life for himself as a journalist, historian, and tireless fighter for human rights and social justice.
Famous for his 11th commandment, “Thou Shalt Not be Indifferent,” Turski thought and acted globally. When he was visiting the United States in 1965, he marched at great risk of racist and police violence with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, John Lewis and others on this historic march from Selma to Montgomery in support of voting rights for African Americans.
A tireless advocate for Polish-Jewish reconciliation, Turski served many important organizations and institutions. He was Chair of the POLIN Museum Council, President of the Board of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and member of the International Auschwitz Council, among many others.
He was decorated for his service to the ideals of social justice by Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Austria, France, and Luxembourg and revered by all. Through the end of his life, Turski underscored that fighting against current and future oppression was central to responding to past persecutions. Turski was living proof of his call against indifference, and we will always remember and be grateful to him for his wise words and leadership.
May his memory be a call to action for justice for all time.