Museum of the History of Polish Jews

The idea of creation of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews was inspired by the example of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The works on establishment of the Museum have been performed by the international team of experts. Nowadays not all of the ideas are brought to life, and some sections of the museum are still waiting for opening. The project needs some time to be completed.

The Museum, located in the former building of the Main Judaic Library, focuses on the history of material and spiritual culture of Polish Jews. The main goal of the museum is to restore and preserve the rich culture of Polish Jews that was created before Holocaust.

Poland was one of the countries where Jewish culture was developing. The roots of Jewish religious and language could be revealed on the territory of Poland. Dramatic events made many Jews leave Poland and look for peace and sympathy in the USA, Palestine, France and other countries. Nowadays the traces of Jewish culture are revealed in New York, Haifa or Paris, but the memory of its Polish origins seems to fade. The goal of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw is to restore the sequence of epochs.

The permanent exposition of the museum consists of the art gallery and the section dedicated to the Holocaust of Polish Jews during the World War II. The collection of the Museum is very unusual, as it represents the mixture of content and interactive technologies. Rather than featuring traditional exhibits in glass cases, the museum employs computer images, films, databases, dioramas, models and interactive technology in order to represent the culture of Polish Jews vividly. The visual reproductions include paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, items of everyday use and other objects related to the Jewish culture. Using contemporary multimedia technologies, the visitors of the museum will be transported into the virtual world of Jewish houses, marketplaces, schools and theaters. One section of the museum is a life-sized recreation of a typical, bustling street in Warsaw's prewar Jewish Quarter, using photographs, projected images of moving people and sounds.

Jews lived in Poland for more than 10 centuries and played an important role in development of the country. Before the World War II Poland housed the greatest number of Jews in Europe. The Nazis occupation disrupted everything. Those Jews who didn't have any opportunity to escape were put into concentration camps. Poland lands were turned into a giant Jewish cemetery. The Nazis gained their ends: the Jewish presence on the banks of the Vistula River disappeared. Some 3 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Today the Jewish community totals between 5,000 and 20,000 people. The Ghetto Heroes Monument in Warsaw and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews are dedicated to the one of the most tragic dramas of the 20th century.