POLIN Museum & Jewish Heritage

★★★ POLIN — Museum of the History of Polish Jews

The POLIN Museum is one of the most important museums in Europe — and one of the most emotionally moving. It tells the 1,000-year history of Polish Jews: from the first settlements in the 10th century through the golden era when Poland was the largest Jewish center in the world, to the Shoah and the post-war decades.

The exhibition spans 8 galleries over 4,000 m² and uses state-of-the-art multimedia, reconstructions (including the breathtaking replica of a painted wooden synagogue from the 17th century), and personal stories. The name "POLIN" means in Hebrew "Here you shall rest" — according to legend, the first word Jews heard when they arrived in Poland.

European Museum of the Year 2016. Plan for at least 3 hours.

Ul. Anielewicza 6 (former ghetto area). 30 PLN (7€), Audioguide 10 PLN. Thu–Mon 10:00–18:00, Wed 10:00–20:00, Tue closed. Free entry to the permanent exhibition on Thursdays!

★★★ Monument to the Ghetto Heroes (Pomnik Bohaterów Getta)

Directly in front of the POLIN Museum stands the poignant monument erected in 1948 at the site of the destroyed Warsaw Ghetto. It commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April–May 1943), when the remaining Jewish residents fought against deportation to the extermination camps. Here, Willy Brandt knelt in 1970 — a gesture that moved the world.

★★ Umschlagplatz

From this place, over 300,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp between 1942 and 1943. Today, a simple white monument commemorates the victims. The names on the marble plaques represent all those murdered.

★★ Nożyk Synagogue

The only synagogue in Warsaw that survived World War II — the Nazis used it as a stable. Today it is restored and an active place of worship for Warsaw's small Jewish community.

Ul. Twarda 6. 10 PLN. Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00 (except Sabbath and holidays).