Warsaw: The Jewish Quarter That No Longer Exists

Zaplanuj wizytę Heritage Journeys

Jews settled in Warsaw in the fourteenth century, but a formal ban on Jewish residence in the city itself (privilegium de non tolerandis Judaeis) held until the end of the eighteenth century. The community lived in the suburbs — in Praga, in Solec, in magnate-owned jurydyki beyond the city walls. The ban was lifted after the Partitions, and across the nineteenth century Warsaw became the largest Jewish centre in Europe. In the 1897 census, Jews accounted for 33 per cent of the city’s 600,000 residents; in 1939, around 30 per cent of 1.3 million.

The heart of this presence lay between Nalewki, Gęsia, Smocza, Pawia, Miła, Niska, Stawki and Świętojerska streets — historically known as Muranów and Nalewki. Here stood the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street (built in 1878 in the Classicist style, the largest Reform synagogue in Central Europe), the Judaic Library, the Institute of Judaic Studies, the editorial offices of Hajnt, Moment and Nasz Przegląd, networks of Tarbut and CYSZO schools, the Czyste hospital on Dworska Street, Dr Janusz Korczak’s orphanage on Krochmalna Street, the Great Rabbinical Court, dozens of Hasidic shtiblach (Ger, Aleksander, Bobov), and Beit Yaakov — the world’s first network of religious schools for girls, founded in Kraków by Sarah Schenirer and expanded in Warsaw. Nalewki — a commercial street lined with shops in textiles, haberdashery and jewellery — was a byword for Jewish Warsaw across pre-war popular culture.

The cultural and political life of the quarter spanned every current: the Orthodox Agudat Israel alongside the Mizrachi party, Zionists of every orientation (General, Mizrachi, Right and Left Poalei Zion, Hashomer Hatzair, Betar), the socialist Bund with its largest party structure anywhere in Poland, Jewish communists, the Yiddishist YIVO movement (whose headquarters were in Vilna), and writers gathered around the Jewish Writers’ Association (Itzik Manger, Avrom Sutzkever during his stays, Rachel Auerbach, Ber Mark, Itzhak Katzenelson). Three Jewish theatres operated: Vikt, Femina, and the Nowy Azazel.

The German occupation began on 28 September 1939 with the surrender of Warsaw. By October, the Star of David armband had been imposed. In October 1940 the Germans declared the establishment of the Ghetto — the largest in occupied Europe. Within walls running along Świętojerska, Bonifraterska, Dzika, Stawki, Okopowa and Pawia streets, some 400,000 people were enclosed: Warsaw’s own Jews and Jews deported from surrounding towns. Hunger, typhus and German violence killed more than 100,000 in the Ghetto before the first deportation.

The Great Deportation Action began on 22 July 1942. Over nine weeks, the Germans deported more than 280,000 Warsaw Jews from the Umschlagplatz on Stawki Street to the Treblinka extermination camp. Among those deported was Dr Janusz Korczak with the children of his orphanage (190 children, on 5 August 1942). On 19 April 1943, the eve of Passover, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out under the command of Mordechai Anielewicz (ŻOB) and Paweł Frenkel (ŻZW). The fighting lasted until 16 May, when General Jürgen Stroop dynamited the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street to mark his final victory. After suppressing the uprising, the Germans systematically demolished every building inside the Ghetto — block by block, street by street. Of the 175 hectares of the quarter, practically nothing remained.

Post-war Muranów was built literally on foundations of rubble. The architects Bohdan Lachert and Józef Szanajca designed in 1947-1956 a residential estate atop a 25-metre layer of debris — the blocks were set above the level of the pre-war streets, so that today’s Muranów lies one storey higher than pre-war Nalewki. Of Warsaw’s 375,000 Jews, around 11,500 survived the war. Most emigrated to Israel, the United States and France in waves between 1946 and 1968. Today the Jewish Religious Community of Warsaw has around 1,500 registered members, one synagogue is active (Nożyk on Twarda Street, built in 1902 and the only one to survive), and POLIN — the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (opened 2014), the Jewish Historical Institute (which preserves the Ringelblum Archive), the Jewish Theatre and JCC Warsaw all operate today.

The memorial route through Jewish Warsaw runs along streets whose tenements, in most cases, are no longer there. Today the landmarks are monuments, plaques and modern institutions built on pre-war sites. A full route takes six to seven hours on foot and calls for a guide to read the layers — without context, today’s Muranów looks like any other post-war residential estate.

We recommend starting at the POLIN Museum on Anielewicza 6 (opens 10:00). Three hours for the full permanent exhibition "A Thousand Years of the History of Polish Jews" is a minimum. In front of the entrance stands Natan Rappaport’s Ghetto Heroes Monument (1948), opposite the main door. Leaving the museum, a short walk along Zamenhofa Street leads to Miła Street and the bunker at Miła 18, where on 8 May 1943 Mordechai Anielewicz and the ŻOB command perished. The mound above the bunker bears their memorial.

From there, Stawki Street leads to the Umschlagplatz — the square from which 280,000 people were deported to Treblinka in the summer of 1942. A monumental white marble memorial with the inscription "more than 300,000 Jews" encloses a fragment of the former square. Onward along Dzika Street to the junction with Karmelicka begins the Path of Remembrance to the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Jews, marked by seventeen granite blocks naming events and dates of the Ghetto.

The second part of the route — the Jewish Cemetery on Okopowa Street (open 9:00-18:00, Fridays to 14:00). Established in 1806, it is the largest surviving Jewish cemetery in Poland: 33 hectares and more than 250,000 graves. Here rest Ludwik Zamenhof (creator of Esperanto), I.L. Peretz (a classic of Yiddish literature), Marek Edelman (a ŻOB commander), Rabbi Dov Berush Meisels, Esther Rachel Kamińska, and Dr Janusz Korczak (a symbolic memorial — his remains lie in Treblinka).

The third part — the Nożyk Synagogue on Twarda 6 (the only surviving pre-war Warsaw synagogue, built in 1902, open to visitors Monday to Thursday 10:00-15:00), the Jewish Historical Institute on Tłomackie 3/5 (with the Ringelblum Archive in its permanent exhibition, open 10:00-18:00), and the Jewish Theatre on Senatorska 35.

Contemporary Jewish life in Warsaw has been re-emerging slowly since the 1990s. The Jewish Religious Community of Warsaw has around 1,500 registered members, but the broader population connected to the community — including those discovering Jewish roots in the third generation — reaches around 6,000. The JCC Warsaw on Chmielna Street has been operating since 2013 and runs the Frajda Sunday school, Hebrew classes, a seniors’ club and youth programmes.

POLIN, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, opened in 2014 on Anielewicza 6, is the largest institution of its kind in Europe. The permanent exhibition leads visitors through a thousand years of history — from the medieval privileges of Bolesław the Pious (1264) to the present day. The Singer Festival, held every year on Próżna (the only street of the pre-war Ghetto whose tenement frontages survive), brings klezmer concerts, culinary workshops and film screenings. Active institutions: Nożyk Synagogue (Twarda 6), the mikvah (on Twarda), the Tel Aviv kosher restaurant (Plac Grzybowski), the Jewish Historical Institute (Tłomackie 3/5) and the Jewish Theatre (Senatorska 35).

A visit to Jewish Warsaw asks for a particular distribution of attention. This is a memorial route, not a sightseeing tour. The full programme calls for a historical guide (POLIN offers audio-guides in six languages, the Jewish Historical Institute organises themed tours, and independent educators are available through the Forum for Dialogue or JCC Warsaw). We recommend booking at least a week in advance.

Pace: slow. POLIN is three unhurried hours for the permanent exhibition, plus an hour for a temporary exhibition if one is on. The memorial walk (Umschlagplatz, Miła 18, the Ghetto Heroes Monument, the Path of Remembrance) — another two hours on foot. The Okopowa cemetery — a minimum of two hours for a basic visit, more if you are looking for specific graves. The Jewish Historical Institute and Ringelblum Archive — an hour and a half for the permanent exhibition.

Etiquette: entry to the Okopowa cemetery — men with a head covering (kippah, hat or cap — available at the gate, donations welcome). Entry to the Nożyk Synagogue — kippah or hat, women in modest dress. On Shabbat the synagogue is closed to visitors but open to those attending services by arrangement with the rabbi. POLIN is open throughout the weekend (closed on Wednesdays). The Okopowa cemetery is closed on Saturdays.

Mercedes V-Class from Chopin Airport (WAW) to a hotel in central Warsaw — 25 minutes, 12 kilometres. From Modlin Airport (WMI) — 60 minutes, 45 kilometres. From a central hotel to POLIN — 10-15 minutes depending on traffic. The full memorial route can be walked within a single kilometre (POLIN, Ghetto Heroes Monument, Miła 18, Umschlagplatz, Path of Remembrance). The Okopowa cemetery and the Nożyk Synagogue require short transfers (5-7 minutes).

V-Class parking: the largest paid zone is at the POLIN Museum (fifty underground spaces), parking on Anielewicza, parking on Karmelicka (for the Okopowa cemetery). For the Nożyk Synagogue — the Plac Grzybowski underground car park and the Hotel Marriott car park (Aleje Jerozolimskie 65/79, an eight-minute walk).

Recommended day format: 9:00 departure from your hotel; 9:30-12:30 POLIN; 12:30-13:30 lunch (the Tel Aviv kosher restaurant on Plac Grzybowski or the POLIN café); 13:30-15:30 memorial walk on foot (Ghetto Heroes, Miła 18, Umschlagplatz, the Path of Remembrance); 15:30-17:30 Okopowa cemetery; 17:30 return to your hotel. An optional second day: the Nożyk Synagogue, the Jewish Historical Institute, Próżna Street, Praga (the last surviving working-class district with synagogues on Targowa and Kępna streets, though their condition is far poorer).