COURAGE

connecting collections

The Ministry for State Security was created in 1950. It saw itself as the ‘shield and sword’ of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Comprised of 20 departments, it supervised the internal security and external intelligence services for the GDR. It employed almost 100,000 full-time staff in 1989, and over the course of its existence administered more than 600,000 informal collaborators to keep all segments of society under surveillance. The Ministry was renamed the Office for National Security in the system-changing months of 1989, and finally, in March 1990, dissolved.

Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage institutionally and financially supports various commemorative initiatives devoted to the democratic movement and cultural opposition. Ministry was one of the founders of European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk in 2007. The Ministry has also assisted cultural institutions in exile, providing archivists and librarians who process library and archival collections. The Ministry is a main operator of Norwegian Funds and European Funds when it comes to digitalization,preservation and promotion of Polish culture; it sponsors associations (eg. Archeology of Photography Foundation) and public institutions (eg. The Archives of the "Solidarity" Labour Union). In years 2012, 2013, and 2014 the Ministry financially supported the establishment of the Spichlerz Polskiego Rocka in Jarocin. The Ministry has financially supported the realization of the Museum of the Orange Alternative. The Ministry finances and supervises the Museum of the Modern Art in Warsaw. The Ministry supported the realization of the Jerzy Ludwiński Archive in Wrocław Contemporary Museum and the collection buliding by the Museum. In 2012, when KARTA Centre had serious financial problems, the Ministry donated 500 thousands zlotys (117 thousands euro) for the everyday functioning of the organization.

The Ministry of Culture was established in 1980 after the two previously independent ministries of education and culture had been merged. It operated in this framework until 1990.

The Ministries of Culture and Education were the most important governmental organs of centralized cultural politics and financing. As such, these institutions had a crucial impact on the institutions and often also on the content of culture in Hungary.