Tour Overview
Visit the parts of Warsaw where the world's second-largest Jewish population (after NY) would live prior to 1939. Take an expert-guided walking tour to discover the most important monuments to the tragic heritage of Warsaw Jews: the mystical Jewish cemetery, the only Warsaw synagogue to survive the war (Nozyk Synagogue), the area of former Warsaw Ghetto, Umschlagplatz, Jewish Historical Institute and awarded Polin History of Polish Jews. Learn of the multicultural background of Warsaw and hear a set of individual and collective stories that occurred before and throughout the brave Ghetto Uprising of 1943.
Warsaw, situated in the very heart of Poland (right between
Krakow and
Gdansk) is a blooming European metropolis with
highrisers and
remnants of Socialist-realism being the most characteristic features of its current urban planning. Somewhere in between these modern buildings, there are still a lot of pre-war Jewish heritage-related leftovers of its social and urban structure to be witnessed. Before the Second World War, there were
350,000 Jews living in the capital of the Second Polish Republic. With
nearly 1/5 of Warsaw of the era occupied by the so-called
Nalewki (stretching between such streets as Prosta, Zielna, Panska and Powazki, now constituting the central part of the city),
Muranow and
Grzybow Jewish quarters, there were plenty of synagogues, Jewish-run theatres, restaurants and markets present in the Polish capital. This enclave was where such notable individuals as Nobel Prize-awarded
Issac Bashevis Singer,
Samuel Goldwyn,
Janusz Korczak or
Wladyslaw Szpilman (the main protagonist of "
the Pianist") were born and raised, among others. Despite certain tensions between particular Warsaw-dwellers on religious or cultural background,
Poland would be dubbed into the Hebrew / Yiddish name of "Polin" ("[You should] dwell here"),
attracting Jewish refugees from all over Europe to settle there. During your 3,5-hour tour, you will traverse the former Jewish districts of Warsaw, both bearing the proud testimony of its pre-war dwellers and the sadness-instilling scars of WWII events.
Your tour will begin in the territory of
Warsaw Ghetto – the
largest Nazi establishment of this kind operating in Europe at the time between 1940 and 1943. At the peak of its existence, this isolated and wall-surrounded area of
nearly 3 square kilometers had about
450,000 Jewish citizens imprisoned there. During its exploration, your expert guide will not only give you an insight into the reality of life inside the ghetto, but also explain the choice of this site to serve the Nazi extermination purposes. You will be introduced into the pre-war activities led by the Jewish inhabitants of the area there, as well as learn of the second-largest (after
the Warsaw Uprising of 1944) uprising carried out in Warsaw during the war:
the Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Hearing the stories of such heroes as
Marek Edelman or
Mordechaj Anielewicz as you pass along the fragments of
Ghetto Wall,
Umschlagplatz assembly ramp or the moving
Ghetto Heroes Monument (unveiled in 1948 in Zamenhofa street) will let them take their shape in the context of reality. A visit to
the Jewish Cemetery will expose you to the second largest Jewish necropolis of Poland. This extensive cemetery is not only where
notable Polish Jews have their resting place, but also where a number of persons deceased at the Ghetto were buried. The Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw is also a place letting you see some of
the most impressive pieces of Jewish sacral architecture ever erected. A more uplifting part of your tour awaits you at neoromanesque
Nozyk Synagogue – the only praying house of this kind spared from destruction during WWII. Completed in 1902, it still serves the purposes of Warsaw Jewish Commune.
The Jewish Historical Institute will expose you to its extensive collections and installations on the Jewish presence in Poland. Operating close to
Grzybowski Square, where a number of kosher restaurants and Jewish-culture related venues seem to have returned to their former glory, this important institution will make you realise the Nazis did not managed to totally annihilate the Jewish heritage of Poland (also thanks to such heroes as
Irena Sendler). A separate visit to thoroughly modern
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (opened in 2013 in an awarded postmodern building whose structure was inspired by
the Biblical crossing over the Red Sea) will be yet another moment giving you a chance to explore the history of Polish Jews in a much broader context than the one unjustly limited to the outcome of World War II. The exhibition housed there is related to
over a millennium of Jewish presence in Poland, as provided in an impressive, understandable and multimedia-supported form.
Interested in following the traces of Jewish heritage left in Warsaw? Contact us to have the guided tour across the Polish capital organised!
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