Museum of the History of Polish Jews
The Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland is the museum's founding organization. It has established the Museum Council, led by Marian Turski. Work on creating the museum has been carried out by an international group of experts, led since 1999 by Jerzy Halbersztadt, director of the museum project. The honorary patron of the museum's construction has been assumed by the Polish President, Aleksander Kwasniewski. The international honorary committee of the museum is led by the former Israeli Prime Minister, and current Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres.
The future museum will conduct far-reaching activities in the fields of education and exhibitions, and will supplement academic, documentary and publishing activities carried out up to this time by the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland.
The Museum's mission is to share with its visitors the history of the Jews in the Polish lands and wealth of their culture, which developed over the course of centuries, and to help young Jews and Poles overcome prejudices by revealing the truth about their relationship and common history.
The historical program is being prepared by a group of experts: historians from Poland, Europe, and the United States, under the direction of Professor Israel Gutman of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The project for the permanent exhibition is being prepared by Event Communications, a London firm.
Not many documents, books and gravestones have survived from the early period of Jewish history in Poland. Thus, the first centuries of Jewish life in Poland will be represented by historical research. Replicas will be made, as well as dioramas and models. In Poland, over 40,000 exhibits have been found, photographed and computerized. The next stage will be to search the former Eastern territories of Poland in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, and elsewhere, and to cooperate with Jewish museums in Europe, the United States and Israel, which are in possession of many objects originally from Poland or connected with the history of the Polish Jews.
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The future site of the museum had been a barracks complex for the horse artillery in the 1780's. After the partitions of Poland, the building was used to station the tsarist Volhynia Battalion. In 1817, the Russian authorities turned the building into a military prison, which later became part of a larger prison complex called "Gesiowka", which was the headquarters of the Judenrat during the German occupation.
In 1948, a memorial to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto designed by Natan Rappaport was erected on the site of the former Judenrat. Today, on the empty square along Anielewicz Street, a plaque has been installed with the inscription "This is the Site of the Future Museum of the History of Polish Jews". The architectural project for the museum, by Frank O. Gehry, will reflect the meaning of this particular place. The central point of the square will remain the memorial to The Heroes of the Ghetto.
Frank O. Gehry, whose parents are originally from Lodz, lives and works in Los Angeles. He designed the famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a gigantic cafe for 260 people for Conde Nast Publications at Times Square in New York, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, the headquarters of DG Bank in Berlin, and the twin buildings known as Ginger and Fred in Prague.
Work on creating the Museum of Polish Jews is being supported by sponsors of different categories, such as founders (an individual, legal entity, or organization that during the project will have contributed at least $100,000 or the equivalent), supporters (an individual, legal entity, or organization that during the project will have contributed at least $20,000 or the equivalent), individual donors (individuals that during the project will have contributed at least $200), and builders (an individual, legal entity, or organization that during the project will have contributed at least $1 million or the equivalent). To date, contributors have included the Government of the Republic of Poland, the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Wiktor Markowicz, the Ryszard Krauze Foundation, Swedish Support Committee, German Support Committee, the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the Polish Business Council, the Ford Foundation and the English Support Committee. There is also a Polish Support Committee, headed by Marcin Swiecicki.
Jerzy Halbersztadt, project director
Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka
Museum of the History of Polish Jews
A project of the Jewish Historical Institute Association, Poland
Warsaw office:
ul. Jelinka 48
01-646 Warsaw
Poland
Tel: (+48 22) 833-0021
Fax: (+48 22) 832-2043
Email: museum@jewishmuseum.org.pl
Website: www.jewishmuseum.org.pl
You are welcome to discuss about "Museum of the History of Polish Jews"
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