Before the Second World War, Warsaw was a city with the biggest Jewish community in Europe. The only other city with a Jewish community of a similar size was… New York!

The story of Jewish Warsaw is a story of stubborn returns. For many years, even centuries, Jews were banned from the city. However, that did not stop them from participating in city life – during good times and bad. Jews joined Varsovians in their struggles against occupying powers, and they played an active part in the Polish uprisings.

The city experienced major influx of Jews in 19th and 20th centuries. During the Interwar Period, Jewish Warsaw flourished. Hundreds of artists, actors, writers, and journalists called the city home. Its cultural life was incomparable to any other time and place in history.

Realizing what Warsaw was helps us understand the tremendous loss. The Second World War and Holocaust left the city changed forever. The wounds and scars will never heal. But, alongside stories of destruction there are stories of the unimaginable bravery of those who fought without hope. There are also stories of the present; stories of rebirth…

Let’s get back first to the past. This city was once famous for its Jewish culture. There are many people whose names history will never forget and Varsovians will always be proud of: Ludwig Zamenhoff, the inventor of Esperanto; Isaac Bashevis Singer (born Icchok Baszewis Singer), who won the Nobel Prize for literature are just two examples. The stories of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Uprising there, and of people like Janusz Korczak and Mordechai Anielewicz will leave you trembling. While the story of Oskar Schindler’s rescue of over a thousand Kraków Jews has become internationally famous with the release of the film Schindler’s List, a much less well-known story is that of Warsaw resident Irena Sendler, who actually saved more Jews than Schindler did. Her story is depicted in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. Last, but not least, it is worth mentioning one more person made famous by a Hollywood film: Władysław Szpilman, better known as The Pianist from Roman Polański’s film.
But there is more to Jewish Warsaw than the past. There is also the here and now – the living Jewish community with a synagogue, kindergarten, school, and the only regularly functioning Yiddish theatre in the world: the Ester Rachela Kamińska Jewish Theatre.