Polish president wants Communism museum

WARSAW, Poland, April 17 (UPI) -- Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said it is finally time for Poland to have a museum devoted to the crimes of communism.

During a debate on history curricula in Polish schools Monday, Komorowski said Poland could no longer be the only central and eastern European country without such a museum. Communists controlled Poland from 1945 to 1989.

"Without the knowledge of the past, it is difficult to build a sense of continuity of the state and nation," he said. "I belong to those who cannot imagine one's personal life, the life of the family and the nation without an awareness of history."

Komorowski proposed the site of the museum be the prison on Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw, notorious for incarcerating political prisoners during the communist era. Polskie Radio reported he said the museum could be modeled on The Museum of Warsaw Rising, founded in 2004.