Located on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will take its place alongside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem as one of the three most important institutions of its kind.
This is the first and only museum to focus on the history of Polish Jews. Many Jews trace their ancestry to Poland, which was one of the largest countries in Europe and one of the most culturally diverse; at its most expansive, Poland included areas that are today Lithuania, Belarus, and Latvia, as well as parts of Ukraine, Estonia, and Western Russia.
Polish visitors will see their history and the places where they live today in a new way: They will discover that the history of Poland is not complete without a history of Polish Jews. They will become acutely aware that their towns once had large and lively Jewish communities. They will discover the rich civilization that Jews created on Polish soil over a period of 1,000 years.
For Jews across the globe, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will add depth and resonance to their visit to Poland and to their understanding of the Holocaust by presenting not only how Jews died, but also how they lived.
All visitors will discover not only the vibrant civilization of what was once the largest Jewish community in the world and center of the Jewish Diaspora, but also a resurgence of Jewish life in Poland and growing interest of the Polish public in the Jewish past.
Architectural drawing of the exterior of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, being built on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Architectural rendering of one of the seven main galleries of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews: "Into the Country." Visitors will be taken on a virtual journey to a lost world in which countless generations lived and flourished.
