Jewish Warsaw � � � � � � � � � � � �

The spectacular wooden synagogue installation at POLIN.

At the time Hitler chose to expand Germany’s territories under the odious excuse of providing ‘living space’ for the German people, Warsaw’s Jewish population numbered 350,000� Neither pogroms nor the occasional boycott of Jewish businesses deterred Jews from settling in the Polish capital and only New York could boast a larger community� Yet within six years Warsaw’s thriving Jewish scene was all but wiped out, with over 90% perishing either in the Warsaw Ghetto or the gas chambers of Treblinka extermination camp� It is estimated that some 15,000 Jews survived the war hiding out on the Aryan side�

Although anti-Semitism was by no means rare, Poland had been seen as a relative safe haven, and it drew settlers forced into flight by more discriminatory regimes elsewhere� By the inter-war years the Jewish population had made significant contributions to the social, political and cultural fabric of Poland� Following World War 2, much of the remaining Jewish population chose to emigrate to the U�S�, British mandate of Palestine (taking an active part in the creation of Israel) and other parts of the world� Some that remained would be forced out in the 1968 political crisis, the local community bearing the brunt of fallout in relations between Israel and the Soviet Union over the 1967 Six-Day War, and as a result of internal struggles amongst factions of the Polish Communist Party� Today, Warsaw’s Jewish population is estimated to stand around 2,000, however, efforts have been put into honouring the city’s Jewish heritage and reintroducing Jewish culture - most notably the opening of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 2014� Here we list some places connected to the current day community and places worth visiting�

Jewish Historical Institute

A chilling recollection of Polish Jewry� This amazing building (which survived the war, but still bears the scars) houses exhibits relating to secular and religious Jewish life in the country from its beginnings to annihilation during WWII and beyond� As well as an excellent bookshop, the institute’s museum, opened in 1948, features temporary exhibitions and a particularly moving permanent exhibition titled ‘What we were unable to shout out to the world’, dedicated to the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto and its creators, the Oneg Shabbat group� This is their record� A must see�QE-5, ul. Tłomackie 3/5, MRatusz Arsenał, tel. (+48) 22 827 92 21, www.jhi.pl. Open 09:00-18:00; Tue 09:00-20:00; Fri 09:00-16:00; Sun 10:00-18:00; closed Sat. Admission 15/10zł. Mon free.

Nożyk Synagogue

Built between 1898 and 1902 in a neo-Romanesque style, this was the only Warsaw synagogue to survive the ravages of war� It was fully restored between 1977 and 1983, and is still used by Warsaw’s Jewish community today� You can visit Sun-Thu 11:00-13:00, 14:00-17:00; Fri 11:00-14:00; on Sat, on Shabbat and other Jewish holidays, the synagogue is closed to visitors�QE-7, ul. Twarda 6, MRondo ONZ, tel. (+48) 22 620 43 24, www.warszawa.jewish.org.pl. Admission 10zł. N

Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery

A beautiful and poignant place to visit� The cemetery was originally founded in 1806 and currently houses around 250,000 tombs� Amongst those buried here are Ludwik Zamenhof, inventor of the international language Esperanto�QB-5, ul. Okopowa 49/51, tel. (+48) 22 838 26 22, www.cemetery.jewish.org.pl. Open 10:0017:00; Fri 10:00-15:00; closed Sat. Admission 10zł. N

Plac Grzybowski

This delightful square connects the city’s past to its present and unites the worlds of commerce, religion, entertainment and art� The main attraction is the 19th century Renaissance All Saints’ Church� Heavily damaged during the start of WWII, from 1941 it was inside the Warsaw Ghetto� The Parish Priest Fr� Monsignor Marceli Godlewski helped to house Jews in the rectory and assisted several to escape� Joining the square is ul. Próżna, the only full street that survived the Jewish Ghetto� It remained derelict, however, in recent years, one side was restored to its pre-war splendour, while the second side awaits revival� It is here, that the former heart of the Jewish area of Warsaw undergoes a mini-revival in the form of the Singer Jewish Culture Festival, which has taken place every year in late August/early September since 2004�QE-7, MŚwiętokrzyska.

POLIN

One of the best museums in Poland, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (to give it its full name) explains a millennium of Polish Jewish history and relations through excellent multimedia displays that earned it the prestigious European Museum of the Year award in 2016� Located in the Muranów district, this area is where the Warsaw Ghetto existed during World War II�

The building is a stunning copper and glass structure designed by Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamäki� Each of the eight galleries addresses a different era in the long history of the Jewish people beginning in the forests of Poland of King Mieszko I (960-992), where legend has it the first Jews settled� The permanent exhibition goes on to chart periods where Jews enjoyed freedoms and protections not granted them elsewhere in Europe, eventually arriving at the calamitous events of the 20th century� While the Holocaust is described in detail, the museum’s permanent exhibition is primarily a celebration of a thousand years of Jewish life in Poland� It is an exhaustive and fascinating exhibit, which takes the better part of a day to explore�

The temporary exhibits - currently Wilhelm Sasnal: Such a Landscape (p.19) - are also of such quality that they require their own ticket� The museum is home to an excellent canteenstyle restaurant serving traditional Jewish cuisine (kosher dishes available), a café and a Resource Center that features a library dedicated to the history, culture and religion of Polish Jews�QD-4, ul. Anielewicza 6, MRatusz Arsenał, tel. (+48) 22 471 03 01, www.polin.pl. Open 10:00-18:00; Sat 10:00-20:00; closed Tue. Perm. exhibit 30/20zł; temp. exhibit 20/15zł; kids 7-16 and students with valid ID 1zł; Thu free. Audioguide 12zł. All tickets purchasable at www.bilety.polin.pl. U

German troops on patrol in the ghetto as buildings burn. | National Archives and Records Administration

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Although efforts are in play to revujenate the Jewish community in Warsaw, it’s hard to avoid the subject of why it’s so tiny in comparison to its early 20th century figure� This becomes evident in Warsaw during April/May, during the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising� Throughout the city, official commemorations are held, there are discussions in the media about the historical importance of the event, but most importantly, there are symbols of remembrance dotted around the city that citizens of the world visit and pay respect to the people that perished on the streets of Warsaw�

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, although inevitably destined to fail, has gone down in history as an act of defiance, an act of protest against the inaction of the world in helping the Jewish people in their plight during the Second World War� This was their time to fight� And so it was to be that from 19 April to 16 May 1943, following years of torment, the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up, vastly outmatched by the superior numbers and weaponry of the German war machine� The fighters had a simple choice: go quietly and die anyway, facing extermination in a camp, or die fighting, defying the barbaric system which had spread across Europe� Numbering only around 700 fighters, the Germans were stunned on the first day of fighting, losing 12 men while the rest were forced to retreat beyond the walls of the ghetto� The fighters continued their dogged resistance, and though the Germans quickly broke the military organisation of the Jewish fighters, pockets of resistance couldn’t be easily dealt with, so the Germans began to use heavy artillery and even Stuka dive bombers� It was a doomed struggle� Vicious street-tostreet, house-to-house battles ensued, with insurgents often burnt out of their boltholes by flamethrowers and gas� On 8 May, German forces surrounded the principal command post of the rebels on ul. Miła 18 (Anielewicz Bunker, p�51) and though some did escape, rather than face capture, leader Mordechai Anielewicz and his cabal opted for mass suicide� By 16 May the Uprising was over, with German commander Jurgen Stroop announcing, ‘The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence� ’ As a final, symbolic act of Jewish Warsaw’s demise, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue on ul. Tłomackie (E-5)�

It is estimated 7,000 Jews and roughly 300 Germans were killed during the Ghetto Uprising� The survivors of the Ghetto liquidation, some 42,000, were transported to the Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin� Very little remains of the former ghetto today, however, to give you an idea of scale, the area consisted of 1/3 the size of the city of Warsaw (mainly the Mirów/ Muranów and Wola districts, plus parts of the city centre)� Despite the destruction, small parts of the ghetto remain, from buildings that somehow survived destruction (ul. Waliców 14, D-7) and even fragments of the ghetto wall (ul. Sienna 55, D-8)�

What to See

A Footbridge of Memory

One of the most enduring images of the Warsaw Ghetto is that of the footbridge constructed over ul. Chłodna to connect the large and small Ghettos� Commemorating this today is a pair of metal poles connected via optical fibres which, after the sun sets, project the shape of the footbridge over the road via light� Designed by Tomasz de Tusch-Lec and installed in 2011, the memorial also has viewing windows inside the poles where visitors can flip through images of life in the Warsaw Ghetto� By now you’ve also probably noticed the pavement outline that symbolises the ghetto’s borders, which can be found on the sidewalk as you travel down ul� Chłodna�QC-6, Intersection of ul. Chłodna and ul. Żelazna, MRondo ONZ.

Anielewicz Bunker

A small mound and memorial today marks the site of the large bunker from which the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was lead by the Jewish Combat Organisation (ŻOB)� Located beneath the tenement at the wartime address of ul� Miła 18 (today Miła 2), the bunker was discovered and surrounded by the Nazis on May 8, 1943, (three weeks after the start of the Uprising), with about 300 people hiding inside� Given the chance to surrender, about half of the occupants - mostly civilians - gave themselves up, but the ŻOB insurrectionists chose to stay and fight� When the Nazis used gas to force them out, many of the ŻOB fighters chose suicide� 120 fighters died, including ŻOB commander Mordechai Anielewicz and his girlfriend Mira Fuchrer; only about 15 survived (many of whom perished later)� The bodies of the dead were never exhumed and covered over with rubble from the surrounding tenements to make this mound after the war� Today two monuments can be found on/ near the memorial with inscriptions commemorating their sacrifice�QD-3, ul. Miła 2, MDworzec Gdański.

Ghetto Heroes Monument

In the middle of a large, attractive square beside the POLIN Museum, you’ll find the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which commemorates the first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943� Designed by Leon Suzin and sculpted by Nathan Rapoport in 1948, close by stands an earlier memorial tablet to the Ghetto Heroes, also by Suzin, which was unveiled in 1946� Interestingly, stone used in the monument had been brought to Warsaw by the Nazis and was to be used in architectural projects planned for a new Warsaw by Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer� In the square, you’ll also find a statue of Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter famed for informing the allies about the existence of Nazi death camps and the systematic destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto�QD-4, ul. Zamenhofa, MRatusz Arsenał.

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