POLIN MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF POLISH JEWS
- museum of important questions
In Warsaw, Poland POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is starting to operate: a modern
educational and cultural platform for social dialogue. By restoring the memory of the rich culture
and heritage of Polish Jews it will teach mutual understanding and respect - not only between
Poles and Jews. The message of the museum is universal, addressed to the societies of Europe
and the world. Our museum is a museum of life: a story that began in the Middle Ages
and continues today.
The museum’s rich program includes: permanent, temporary and touring exhibitions, concerts,
theatrical performances, debates, films and activities for children and adults. In addition to the
activities in the building and outside, the museum is also active on the internet and in the world of
mobile media.
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews began its program activities both cultural and
educational on April 19, 2013, but its official grand opening is scheduled for October 28, 2014 when the interactive Core Exhibition “A Thousand-year History of Polish Jews”, presenting one
thousand years of Jewish presence in the Polish lands will be made available to the public.
www.polin.pl
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in brief
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews was founded in an extremely symbolic place in the
centre of Warsaw: Muranów - the area of the pre-war district inhabited mainly by Jews and during
the war transformed by the Germans into the ghetto. The museum completes the history of the
place: the nearby Monument to the Ghetto Heroes commemorates the Polish Jews that died, and the
museum is a reminder of how they lived. That is why we call it the “museum of life”.
The heart of the museum is the interactive Core Exhibition, the official opening of which is scheduled
for October 28, 2014. Developed by an international team of historians and museum experts, it
presents the history of a thousand years of Polish Jews from the Middle Ages up to present. The
exhibition tells the story of their culture and heritage, from which Poland and the world draw on.
Eight galleries show further views of the presence of Jews in Poland: from the first settlement to
modern times and the gradual revival of the Polish Jewish community after 1989. A visit begins with
the art installation referring to the Polin legends about the emergence of the Jews in Polish
territories.
The museum’s exhibition is narrative: visitors are immersed in the story told by antique objects,
paintings, interactive installations, reconstructions and models, video projections, sounds and texts.
Visitors to the museum can also benefit from the knowledge of accompanying guides.
The museum adheres to the model of a
modern museum, in which exhibition and
research activities combine with a rich
cultural
and
educational
program.
Therefore, before the opening of the Core
Exhibition, the museum began organising
temporary exhibitions - presenting art
works and installations, collections,
souvenirs, events and historical sites. The
museum often uses the language of art to
achieve its mission. The work of excellent
artists can be viewed presenting a whole range of genres: classical music, klezmer, jazz and rock. The
rich program of museum also includes theatre productions, including premières prepared by young
artists, film screenings, lectures and debates with scholars and well-known persons, meetings with
the Righteous and the Survivors and workshops for children and adults. In addition to the activities in
the building and outside, the museum is also active on the internet. It maintains a website dedicated
to local Jewish history (Virtual Shtetl: www.sztetl.org.pl), the Polish Righteous Among the Nations
(www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl) and monuments and archival materials on Polish Jews
(judaica.jewishmuseum.org.pl). It is also started the Stories of Polin on-line platform for people
interested in the history and culture of Polish Jews (www.storiesofpolin.com).
The museum building, designed by the Finnish studio Lahdelma & Mahlamäki, is a real architectural
jewel - a showcase of modern Warsaw and a monument to its multi-coloured past. From the outside,
it is a geometric, glass-coated solid structure. But in its front wall a crack opens - the opening to the
main entrance, which leads to an unusual lobby, with its undulating, dynamic wall cleaving the entire
building. It is an architectural symbol of the tear that the Holocaust and postwar repression made
among the Jews. The role of the museum is to restore memory and build links between past and
present - just as the footbridge high above the chasm of the lobby combines both of its sides.
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews was founded as
Poland's first cultural institution created in the formula of
public-private partnership by the Ministry of Culture and
National Heritage, the Capital City of Warsaw and the
Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland. Public
funds financed the construction of the museum building and
they also cover most of the current budget. The Jewish
Historical Institute is responsible for the creation of the Core
Exhibition, and it also contributes to the current budget for
the programmed activities of the museum. Funds for these
purposes owe a debt of thanks to the generosity of donors
from Poland and abroad, mainly from the United States.
What is the Core Exhibition POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews?
The Core Exhibition is a journey through 1,000 years of the history of Polish Jews - from the Middle
Ages up to the present. Visitors will find answers to questions such as how Jews arrived in Poland.
How did our country become the centre of the Jewish Diaspora and home to the largest Jewish
community in the world? How did it stop and how was Jewish life reborn here?
The exhibition consists of eight galleries spread
across an area of over 4000 m2 that tell about
the culture and heritage of Polish Jews. These
are the galleries: Forest (a legend about the
origins of the Jewish presence in Poland), First
Encounters (the Middle Ages), Paradisus
Iudaeorum (16th century – 1st half of the 17th
century), The Jewish Town (17th-18th centuries),
Encounters with Modernity (19th century), On
the Jewish Street (the Second Polish Republic),
Holocaust and Postwar Years. We present in
them one thousand years of Jewish life in the Polish lands and the coexistence of Jews and Poles. We
talk about cooperation, competition and conflict, autonomy, integration and assimilation. We do not
avoid difficult topics, but they do not fill the main pages of the thousand-year history. In the opinion
of the creators of the museum, it is exactly this approach that enables a faithful and balanced
presentation of the past, and creates dialogue and understanding between cultures.
The Core Exhibition is narrative: visitors are immersed in the story told by antique objects, paintings,
interactive installations, reconstructions and models, video projections, sounds and texts. At each
stage of this journey into the past, we try to be as close to everyday life as possible - we give a voice
to the Jewish merchants, scholars, and artists of the era. Rabbis, housewives, politicians, chroniclers
and revolutionaries.
The Core Exhibition is prepared by an international team of scholars and curators under the guidance
of Prof. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett of New York University. The exhibition’s main historian is Prof.
Antony Polonsky of Brandeis University. The exhibition was designed by the company Event
Communications (master plan of the Core Exhibition) from London and Nizio Design International
from Warsaw in cooperation with the agency 180heartbeats + Jung v. Matt and Bad Design (detailed
design of the galleries). The Core Exhibition makes use of proven museum experience and the latest
multimedia solutions. The concept and content of the Core Exhibition were consulted with many
eminent historians, in particular members of the Museum Council, which included: Prof. Władysław
Bartoszewski, Prof. Israel Gutman, Prof. Henryk Samsonowicz, Prof. Bożena Szaynok, Prof. Janusz
Tazbir, Marian Turski, Prof. Feliks Tych. The Council reviewed the design of the various galleries and
approved the start of production. The creators of the exhibition also benefited from external
consultations with recognised experts in historiography from Poland, the USA, Israel, the UK and
other countries.
Forest
Forest marks the beginning of the adventure with the Core Exhibition; it is an invitation to wander
through a thousand years of the history of Polish Jews. Therefore, this part of the exhibition can be
seen from the bridge where visitors enter the main hall of the museum. Forest is the only gallery that
does not build narratives using historical facts and phenomena, but in a metaphorical way it prepares
the museum visitor to make contact with the story of the events from centuries ago.
In Forest we tell the beautiful legend of
Po-lin about the arrival and settlement
of Jews in “the land of Mieszko", to
which we owe the name of Poland in
Hebrew. Forest gives visitors the chance
to meet Jewish merchants who migrated
to Eastern Europe, preparing the ground
for settlers arriving after them. It talks
about getting to know each other and
building the first relationships.
First Encounters
In this gallery we present the events from the earliest period of Jewish settlement in Poland.
Medieval rulers, who modernised the country's economy, greeted the Jews arriving to Poland with
joy. The famous Statute of Kalisz, the prince’s privilege, defined the legal status of the Polish Jews,
which guaranteed them freedom of religion, protection against unfair accusations and the right to
trade. Although there were acts of violence and accusations of ritual murder, the Jews did not
experience persecution in Poland on such a scale as they did in the rest of Europe.
From the beginning, the Jewish settlers formed
small castles, later settling in towns. Up to 1500,
they lived in more than a hundred settlements,
half of them forming an organised Jewish
community. In the First Encounters gallery,
visitors meet Ibrahim ibn Jakub, a Jewish
diplomat from Cordoba, author of the famous
notes from his trip around Europe. One of the
most interesting elements of the gallery is the first preserved sentence written in Yiddish in a prayer
book from 1272. An original bracteate - a unilaterally minted coin with Hebrew letters - will be the
main attraction of the interactive exhibition dedicated to Jewish minters and the role of Jews in the
development of the economy and money in Poland. The hallmark of the gallery are the beautiful
paintings and decorations, hand-made by Polish conservators.
Chapter leader: Prof. Hanna Zaremska (Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
Paradisus Iudaeorum
In 1569, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed from the Kingdom of Poland and the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In this powerful and ethnically and religiously diverse country, the Jewish
community was becoming more numerous, and its culture thrived. The sixteenth and the first half of
the seventeenth century was a golden age in the history of Polish Jews.
In those days the Jews in the
Commonwealth enjoyed a large degree of
autonomy; they had their own local
governments, including the Council of Four
Lands, which was unique in Europe. In
contrast to other countries, Polish Jews did
not endure mass religious persecution. It
was in this time that eminent scholars of
Jewish religious law lived and worked. The
second half of the sixteenth century brought
the Jews another change: encouraged by the
nobles, they began to settle in manors - the great aristocratic estates in the east of the country.
There, they became involved in new occupations: the lease of inns, mills and breweries, grain trading
and cattle driving. In Paradisus Iudaeorum, visitors' attention is drawn to an interactive model of
Krakow and Kazimierz, featuring the rich culture of the local Jewish community. The virtual library
featured masterpieces of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in multimedia form: The Talmud, religious,
philosophical, and moral works. Visitors will be able to make an impression of the front page of the
sixteenth-century book on a printing press and look into the chest with the most important objects of
the community. They will be able to view a map of Jewish settlement in the Commonwealth, see how
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries religious tolerance was understood, and learn why Poland
was called Paradisus Iudaeorum - Jewish paradise.
Chapter leader: Prof. Adam Teller (Brown University, New York) - until March 2010, Dr. Igor
Kąkolewski (University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn)
The Jewish Town
In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Jews populated almost the entire Commonwealth. In
particular, many settled in the south-eastern areas of the country where the vast property owners
willingly leased them inns and mills. This
situation caused the reluctance of local
people to the Jews (treated as
representatives of the nobility) and this was
given bloody expression during the
Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648. After that,
however, there was a period of
reconstruction and in depopulated areas
there
appeared
impressive
Baroque
synagogues and cemeteries, with richly
decorated tombstones.
The main theme of the Jewish Town gallery is the everyday life of Jews in private estates set against
the wide panorama of the Commonwealth, which focused around the market and synagogues.
Therefore, the design of the gallery reflects these very spaces, not forgetting also about houses,
churches and inns. In this scenery, visitors will learn about family and neighbourly relations and
relations as well as Jewish-Christian relations.
The most spectacular part of the gallery is the breathtaking reconstruction of the roof and the ceiling
of the wooden synagogue from Gwoździec and the platform from which the Torah is read that
originated from there. It was recreated using tools, materials and methods used in the seventeenth
century. Almost 400 volunteers from all over the world, working under the supervision of an
international team of historians, architects and artists, took part in reconstruction workshops, carried
out over two years in the eight Polish cities.
Chapter leader: Prof. Adam Teller (Brown University, New York) - until March 2010
Encounters with Modernity
At the end of the eighteenth century, Russia, Prussia and Austria partitioned the First Polish Republic.
Over the next century the Jews living in the lands of the three powers became the subject of the
"Jewish question”, namely the question of how to reconcile Jewish separateness and social
integration.
Both the state and Jewish reformers sought to modernise Jewish life. They created new types of
schools, adapted Jewish clothing to western fashion and introduced new cultural norms. Many Jews
chose alternative ways of living - the Hasidic
movement or education in modern yeshivot
(religious schools) in what is now Lithuania
and Belarus. The developing economy of the
Congress
Kingdom
gave
Jewish
entrepreneurs, such as Izrael Poznański, the
cotton king from Łódź, the ability to play a
significant role in the industrialisation of the
region. The growing national consciousness
of the Jews found expression in the new
Hebrew and Yiddish culture. Modern political
movements developed such as Bundism and Zionism.
The Encounters with Modernity, visitors can sit around an interactive table on the thrones of three
empires. They can learn about the history of the partitions and their consequences for the Jews. At a
nineteenth-century railway station, they will see the history of mass migration, learn about the role
of Jews in the Industrial Revolution - the creation of factories and the construction of the railway
network. The great flowering of secular Yiddish culture is represented by the writer Icchok Lejb Perec.
Chapter leader: Prof. Marcin Wodziński (University of Wrocław), Prof. Samuel D. Kassow (Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut)
On the Jewish Street
In the summer of 1914, the socio-political landscape
of Europe changed beyond recognition. The chaos of
war lasted four years and led to the collapse of the
three partitioning powers. Poland regained its
independence. The Second Polish Republic brought
Jews the opportunity to develop that they had so far
not had. The ambitious visions of the leaders of the
Jewish community were reflected in the programs of
political parties, social organisations and the creativity of artists.
The interwar period was also a time of development of different forms of Jewish nationalism and
parallel progressive polonisation, especially among youth educated in Polish schools. Thanks to this
diversity, the period is seen by many as the second golden age in the history of Polish Jews. The
Second Polish Republic, however, was not a paradise on earth for Jews. Its first few years saw a wave
of pogroms, and the Thirties brought growing anti-Semitism and a long-term economic crisis that
forced tens of thousands of Jews to emigrate to Palestine, Western Europe and the Americas.
On the Jewish Street gallery is located in the museum building almost in the exact spot where before
Second World War Zamenhofa Street was located - the main thoroughfare inhabited mainly by Jews
of the northern district. The name of the gallery also describes its character - a Jewish street, the
frontages of which form the multimedia facades of tenement buildings. From the street, visitors will
be able to enter gates, where in further parts of the gallery - the cinema and the café - they will
discover the rich cultural and political life of this period, become acquainted with the problems of
everyday life in Polish provincial towns and the growing new generation of Jews born in independent
Poland.
Chapter leader: Prof. Samuel D. Kassow (Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut)
Holocaust
On September 1, 1939, the Third Reich invaded Poland. On September 17, 1939, Poland was attacked
by the Soviet Union. Poland, under pressure from two forces, lost her independence. Soon, the
Germans began the systematic humiliation of the Jews, roundups for forced labour and the isolation
of Jews from Polish neighbours by closing them in ghettos.
In June 1941, the Third Reich invaded the
Soviet Union and occupied the area of
Poland that had up to then been occupied
by the Soviet Union. The Germans shot
about two million Jews there. Millions of
other Jews perished in the gas chambers.
Occupied Poland became the epicentre of
the Holocaust. The Germans built
concentration in: Chełmno, Bełżec,
Majdanek, Sobibór, Treblinka
and
Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This part of the
exhibition shows the machinery of death,
daily life in inhuman conditions and attempts to function in the isolated reality of the ghettos. The
gallery also presents different attitudes towards Jews in hiding: including those who risked their own
lives to help, indifference and denunciation. An eyewitness to the Holocaust, the courier of Polish
Underground State Jan Karski, like many others tried to inform the world about the fate of the Jews.
The world, however, remained of deaf.
Holocaust is located directly opposite the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, commemorating the
victims of the Holocaust and the heroic uprising of the Warsaw ghetto insurgents. Therefore, one of
the main parts of the gallery is devoted to the Warsaw ghetto. Visitors learn about the reality of life
in the ghetto from diaries and documents from the underground archive created by Emanuel
Ringelblum and his associates. Materials buried in metal boxes and milk jugs have survived to this day
and they remain a stark reminder of life in the ghetto.
Chapter leader: Prof. Barbara Engelking (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of
Sciences), Prof. Jacek Leociak (Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
Postwar Years
Less than 300,000 Polish Jews survived the war. In the uncertain postwar period, a burning issue for
them was the choice between staying in the country or leaving. Some made their way illegally to
Palestine, where they played an important role in the creation of the State of Israel. Those who
remained in Poland became involved in the rebuilding of the country and the destroyed life of the
Jewish community, as well as maintaining the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The gallery
will present, among others, the history of the
creation and unveiling of the Monument to the
Ghetto Heroes in 1948.
Although over the years, as a result of
emigration and assimilation, Jews in Poland
have become fewer and fewer, the Jewish
community has continued to enjoy diverse
activities. The gallery will present both the
cultural and educational activity of the Social
and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland and the achievements of artists identified with Jewish and
Polish culture.
During the anti-Semitic campaign in March 1968, many Jews were forced to leave the country. Also
presented are the causes of the anti-Semitic campaign that increased from 1967, accounts from the
March events, as well as statements and souvenirs of March immigrants and their reflections from
the period just after they left Poland.
After 1989, Jewish culture and history are gradually gaining an important place in the minds of Poles,
as evidenced by the numerous artistic projects and publications presented in the final space of the
gallery. Universities organise Jewish studies, the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow attracts every year
more than 15,000 visitors and Jews willingly come from different parts of the world. Visitors leaving
the last part of the Core Exhibition will be involved in discussions about identity and memory of the
past and of today of Polish Jews. Archival materials from the time after 1989 bring closer the
phenomenon of the rebirth of Jewish life in Poland in the context of political changes.
Chapter leader: Dr. Helena Datner (Jewish Historical Institute), Prof. Stanislaw Krajewski (Faculty of
Philosophy and Sociology, University of Warsaw)
EXHIBITION IN NUMBERS:
4200 m2 of exhibition space
73 interactive multimedia positions
120 passive multimedia positions
170 original objects (historical) are part of the exposition
200 copies, models and facsimiles
100 tons of steel used to build the walls and mezzanines
8500 files for the needs of multimedia and scenography
30 tons, the weight of the synagogue roof
Selected opinions of experts about the Core Exhibition
The basic principles and guiding criteria for the selection and organization of materials for the
Museum are absolutely sound and premised on the most authoritative scholarship. This applies
equally to the basic concept and direction, as well as the criteria for selection of topics and materials. I
have no doubt that when it is completed POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews will be
considered one of the world’s leading historical museums.
Prof. Gershon David Hundert, McGill University
There is no history of Jews in Europe without Poland. Just as there is no history of Poland without the
Jewish community that lived in this country for centuries. It is here that the fates of these two nations
became inextricably linked—in good times and in bad, in times of hardship and tragedy. Poland was a
Paradisus Iudaeorum, a friendly shelter for Jews, but it was also where the Nazi genocide was carried
out. It is on Polish soil that the Germans perpetrated the Holocaust. The Museum has produced an
extraordinary exhibition that provides a vivid narrative about the life of a great community, about its
centuries-old traditions and practices. Both known and little-known aspects of its religious and secular
life are on show, in addition to a collection of original artifacts and documents. The exhibition
encourages reflection, highlighting the poets, prominent scholars, gifted musicians and others who
have helped make Poland known throughout the world. It also encourages us to remember the
millions of ordinary men and women from towns and villages of whom no trace now remains. This is a
great exhibition about a people who once lived among us, about a nation murdered. A unique
museum has arisen in Warsaw. Nowhere else in the world will we find such an extraordinary and
unforgettable exhibition.
Prof. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, member of the Museum Council of POLIN Museum of the History of
Polish Jews
With full responsibility I can say that the Core Exhibition will truly be a remarkable event. It will allow
visitors to get to know the thousand-year history of Jews on Polish lands as well as their contribution
to Polish culture, history, and society. There will also be no shortage of controversial subjects. But that
goes for all good exhibitions, and I hope that the ensuing discussions and polemics will contribute to a
better understanding of the past.
Prof. Małgorzata Omilanowska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage
Your Core Exhibition focuses upon the remarkable story of the Jews of Poland. Theirs is a narrative of
1,000 years of Jewish life, including magnificent creativity, often in the face of adversity, side by side
with Polish neighbors. These epic chapters of Jewish, Polish, and human endeavor concluded most
tragically during the Shoah with the nearly total annihilation of Polish Jewry and the total destruction
of their civilization. This crucial story indeed merits comprehensive, accurate, and insightful portrayal
in your Museum.
Avner Shalev, Chairman, Yad Vashem Directorate, Jerusalem
The Core Exhibition, a daring enterprise, ranks with the best in the world. It presumes to teach
contemporary Jews new ideas and details about their heritage. It insists to Poles that without
knowledge of Poland’s Jewish past, their understanding of their own history lacks a crucial dimension.
It contradicts common stereotypes and cherished assumptions. Poland today has rediscovered a
worthy tradition that can help forge its path into the future.
Prof. Moshe Rosman, Bar-Ilan University
I was highly impressed by the logic of the historical narrative and unique approach. Not a single
controversial issue was put aside. The Holocaust is presented as part of Polish history and as part of
the ongoing story of Polish Jewry, which is not how most other exhibitions present these topics. Until
now, the period of postwar Polish Jewry has hardly been presented in Jewish museums. This is a
pioneering and challenging attempt to deal with this chapter. Although controversy and criticism
might arise, from a historical point of view, the teams carry out serious and convincing work.
Prof. Daniel Blatman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
www.polin.pl