Jan Bloch’s International Museum of War and Peace in Lucerne, 1902–1919 (1981)

This article describes the history of the unique museum created by the Polish-Russian entrepreneur Jan Bloch. His stunning and prophetic six-volume work on the war of the future (1898) convinced him that a great war had to be avoided at all costs since it would be suicidal. The museum, meant to inform and warn a large public, displayed especially a large collection of weaponry, showing the increased lethality of war over time. The peace movement objected that its own activities and proposals were insufficiently presented. The financing of a purpose-built museum, opened in 1910, caused controversy. The absence of visitors and tourists during the 1914–1918 war and the resulting loss of income forced the closure of a remarkable institution that history has forgotten.