Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw)

Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw)

The Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland is one of the oldest social organisations dedicated to commemorating Jewish history and culture in Poland. Over the years, the institute's activities have focused on academic research and building archival, museum and library collections. Thanks to many years of work, one of the world's largest collections of Polish Jewish memorabilia has been built up. Today, the institute's activities focus not only on academic work but, above all, on educational, cultural and exhibition activities. In this way, we seek to preserve the memory of Polish Jews and their contribution to Polish, European and world culture. Various projects are carried out through ongoing cooperation with other organisations and institutions in Poland and abroad. Our main partners are the Jewish Historical Institute and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, of which the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland was the initiator. This partnership is how we reach hundreds of thousands of people each year with our ideas.

The collection of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland held at the POLIN Museum is unique. It was created for the permanent exhibition of the POLIN Museum, a narrative exhibition whose important elements include objects related to the social and cultural heritage of Polish Jews. The objects on display are valuable testimonies to everyday life. They allow us to learn more about Jewish life in Poland and trace the birth of a new, secular Jewish visual culture. 
The 230 objects from the collections of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland that will be processed, digitised and made available as part of the joint project include archives (documents, photographs), objects related to religious festivals (e.g. Hanukkah lamps, mezuzot, Shabbat knives), everyday and spiritual life (a matzah-baking machine, kosher stamps, Yiddish typefaces) and cultural artefacts (postcards with portraits of Jewish writers, a plate from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, whose products were popular and sold in shops in interwar Poland) or business activity (soda siphon, tins for sweets and coffee). The collection also includes works of art by eminent painters such as Abraham Neumann and Wilhelm Wachtel and treasured folk art pieces depicting the mutual relations between Christians and Jews.