From the Middle Ages until the Holocaust, Jews were a significant part of the Polish population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known for its religious tolerance as a "Jewish paradise", attracted numerous Jews who fled persecution from other European countries. By the Second World War Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (about 3 million), most of whom were then killed by the Nazis. Poland was therefore a major spiritual and cultural center for the Ashkenazi Jewry for many centuries, and many of Europe's famous Jews were born in Poland.
Many Polish Jews contributed to Jewish culture and religious teaching. There were also many who assimilated with Poles and made great contributions to Polish cultural, economic and political life, including Jews who were ardent Polish patriots. The following is a list of some prominent Polish Jews.
Jews enjoyed undisturbed peace and prosperity in the many principalities into which the country was then divided, they formed the middle class in a country where the general population consisted of landlords (developing into szlachta, the unique Polish nobility) and peasants, and they were instrumental in promoting the commercial interests of the land.
The szlachta and the townsfolk were increasingly hostile to the Jews, as the religious tolerance that dominated the mentality of the previous generations of the Commonwealth citizens was slowly forgotten.
PolishJews generally were less influenced by Hasklah, rather focusing on a strong continuation of their religious lives based on Halakha ("Jewish law") following primarily Orthodox Judaism, Hasidic Judaism, and also adapting to the new Religious Zionism of the Mizrachi movement later in the 1800s.
The idea of creation of the Museum of the History of PolishJews was inspired by the example of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The works on establishment of the Museum have been performed by the international team of experts.
The goal of the Museum of the History of PolishJews in Warsaw is to restore the sequence of epochs.
The Ghetto Heroes Monument in Warsaw and the Museum of the History of PolishJews are dedicated to the one of the most tragic dramas of the 20th century.
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