The Museums in Tykocin and Włodawa as Institutions Shaping the Local Collective Memory of Polish Jews

The article contains an analysis of the activities of two museums: in Tykocin and in Włodawa. These institutions have a number of common features: both are located in small towns in the eastern part of Poland, where large and flourishing Jewish communities existed before World War II. In addition, in both cases, these institutions are housed in buildings that belonged to Jews before the war: a synagogue, bet midrashim, the Kahal headquarters. The article aims to analyse how these institutions affect local communities – both in the general context of the development of social and cultural life and the memory of the pre-war local Jewish community.