SPK statement on the US President's announcement
News from 03/28/2025
Donald Trump wants to reinterpret American history by decree
The President of the SPK, Hermann Parzinger, and his designated successor, Marion Ackermann, have sharply criticized the US President's announcement that he intends to influence museums in order to influence representations of American history. “After the attack on academic freedom, the American president is now attacking independent museums. In free societies, we engage in discourse, we negotiate things, but we do not allow decrees to determine what is thought and shown. The institutions that are committed to education need freedom to be able to work. These institutions are now being politically patronized. It is an anti-intellectual struggle that is aimed against everything that makes people free. We are in solidarity with our colleagues in the American museums, especially with our partners at the Smithsonian Institution, and will continue our cooperation, especially now!”