What role do museums play in times of war? From 22 to 23 October 2025, the museum agency contributed as a content partner in the “Ukraine Culture Security Forum” in Berlin, an event initiated by OMBIN and hosted by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.

Silke Krummel represented the museum agency on the public panel “The Importance of Culture for National Security Frameworks”. Together with experts from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, and France, the discussion explored key questions: How do museums contribute to societal resilience? What is the importance of integrating culture into national security structures? How does culture function as a tool of hybrid warfare and disinformation? What strategies are museums developing to safeguard cultural heritage, and what responsibility do they bear in shaping narratives?

As part of its programme “Engage in dialogues”, the museum agency supports a range of activities by the Ukrainian museum network OBMIN – now in the third year of their partnership. Together, they are developing formats for exchange with German museums and building partnerships designed to strengthen museums in view of the ongoing war and crisis in Ukraine.

Founded in 2022 in Warsaw, OBMIN is a platform for supporting and connecting Ukrainian museums. “Obmin” means “exchange” in Ukrainian. Today, the network brings together 143 museums from across Ukraine.

The full event programme can be accessed on the OBMIN website: https://obmin.eu/download/conferences/5/EN_UCSF_Programme.pdf