The Jewish Historical Institute has the largest collection of artworks and archival material related to the history and culture of Polish Jews in Poland. After the Second World War the JHI Museum was the first institution to collect and promote the centuries-old cultural heritage of Jews. The JHI Museum collection accrued over the course of several decades (formally since 1948) – a process that continues. It currently comprises ca. 15,000 items. The oldest artifacts date back to the eighteenth century. Artifacts from the interwar period form the largest group of items.
The JHI collection includes, above all, paintings, prints and sculptures by Polish-Jewish artists, often represented by one or two works – in many cases the only trace that remains of their output. The JHI also boasts an impressive collection of religious artifacts, both those used in the synagogue and in the home. This includes various craftworks, fabrics, Torah scrolls and illuminated Books of Esther. The Judaica collection comprises both religious artifacts used by Ashkenazi Jews and those used by Sephardi Jews. Aside from objects made in the Polish lands the collection includes Judaica made by studios in Greece, Russia, Austria and Germany, mainly Berlin, Breslau and Lower Silesia. Historical Mementos form a separate department of the collection, largely objects from the period of German occupation and the Second World War, items from former ghettos (mainly Warsaw and Łódź) and death camps.
Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
3/5 Tłomackie Street
Muzeum Niepodległości w Warszawie (The Museum of Independence in Warsaw)
The Muzeum Niepodległości w Warszawie Judaica collection comprises various types of objects, mostly paintings, graphics, drawings, posters, photographs, coins, medals and all sorts of ephemera. Due to the nature of the collection as a whole and its chronology (ranging from the end of the 18th to the 20th century), the Judaica presented are also from this time period. They illustrate all walks and aspects of social life, including politics, economy and culture. Most of the objects come from the first half of the 20th century, and many date to the Holocaust period.
Muzeum Niepodległości w Warszawie
al. Solidarności 62
phone +48 0-22 826-90-91