Duration: 5 Hours

This tour is very unique and provides tourists with a detailed understanding of Warsaw's Jewish heritage. The sights that you will see are:

Fragment of the ghetto wall, Janusz Korczak Monument, The Ester Rachel Kaminska and Ida Kaminska Jewish Theater, Nozyk Synagogue, The former Bersons and Baumans Children's Hospital, The monument to the Memory of Jews and Poles The Jewish Cemetery, Umschlagplatz, The Route Recalling the Martyrdom and the Struggle, Bunker, The Monument to the Heroes of the Getto & Prózna Street.

The former Jewish District - The ground of the former Ghetto:

Before World War II on the north-west part of Warsaw was situated the Jewish district called Nalewki populated mostly by Jewish people. The Capital of Poland was at that time residence of the second biggest Jewish population in the world after New York (over 400 thousands Jews lived here). The district was built-up with many-storied tenement-houses. On the streets you could hear Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian (which was used by Jewish refugees from Russia). During the occupation the Germans formed the Ghetto on the grounds of the former Jewish district. After the deportations and liquidation of the ghetto, (most of all of its inhabitants were killed during the German operation) the whole area was levelled to the ground.

Janusz Korczak Monument

Janusz Korczak (The real name. Henry Goldszmidt, 1878 or 1879 -1942) was a doctor, a writer and an educator who dedicated his life to help children. Working as the children's doctor since 1912 and directed the Jewish House of Orphans. He was an author of scientific publications and fairytales for children (in Polish). In 1940 his orphanage was transferred to the Ghetto. In August 1942 Henry had a choice to save himself or die with his children, he voluntarily went together with the children of the orphanage to their death in the extermination camp in Treblinka.

Nożyk Synagogue

Synagogue was built in 1902 as a private prayer house by Zelman and Rywka Nożyk and given to the Warsaw Jewish Community. During the occupation the synagogue was closed and used by Germans as the store. Opened again only in 1945. In 1977-1983 renovation restoring it original condition. Of the hundreds of prayer houses in pre - war Warsaw it is the only surviving synagogue still in use.

Bunker of Jewish uprising HQ

On the corner of Mila st and Dubois st stood the tenement house. In its cellar was a bunker, which the command of the Jewish Fighting Organization occupied. On May 8, 1943 it was discovered by the German troops. Most of the fighters committed suicide with commanders - Mordechaj Anielewicz (1919-43) and Arie Wilner (1917-43). In 1946, on the mound formed of ruins of the house was placed a memorial stone with inscriptions in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew.

In 2006, at the bottom of the burial mound, was placed a stone with names of those who died by suicide and a fragment of a poem "Here they lie at the site of their death as the sign that the whole earth is their grave." [ by R Matywiecki]

The Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto

Work of Natan Rapaport and Marek Suzin was unveiled on the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the Ghetto Uprising, April 19th, 1948.

On the west side is a sculpture symbolizing battle, and on the east is a relief depicting the martyrdom of the Jewish people. Nearby is an monument from 1946. On a tablet of red stone, is an inscription in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew: "To those who fell in the unprecedented heroic battle for the dignity and freedom of the Jewish people, for a free Poland and for man's liberation. Polish Jews."

Willy Brand, Chancellor of Germany kneeled at the bottom of the Monument of the Ghetto Heroes 7.12.1970.

Opposite the monument, is the place where the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will be built [at present under construction].

Umschlagplatz Monument

This monument stood in the place of former Umschlagplatz - the railway-loading platforms at Dzika street. In July 1942 transports of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp began (The Jews were told they were going to work camps in the East). Everyday about 6,000 people were sent to their death. A monument was built here in 1988. "Over 300,000 Jews followed this path of suffering and death between 1940-1943 from the Ghetto created in Warsaw to the Nazi death camps" informs inscription on the monument. There were also inscribed in the wall four hundred and forty-eight first names, from Abel to Żanna, as a symbol of the 450,000 Jews imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. On the wall of a neighboring building a verse from the Book of Job, 16:18, is engraved in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew: "O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place."

The Route Recalling the Martyrdom and the Struggle of the Jews 1940-1943

The Route, designated by blocks of black granite , runs between Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto and the the Umschlagplatz. Each stone bears names of Ghetto rising heroes, individuals active in the Warsaw Ghetto and Jewish leaders [i.e Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943) a member of the Polish National Committee in exile (in London) at the time commited suicide because of no reaction from any governments of the allies after liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto].

Fragment of the Ghetto Wall

By the end of 1940 the Ghetto was enclosed by 3-meter-high wall. About 500,000 Jews were imprisoned here on 300 hectares. (The Germans deported here also Jews from neighbouring small towns ). Late 1941 the boundaries were altered and the walls moved to the middle of the bordering streets. After the end of deportations, the Ghetto was reduced in size again. Fragments of the ghetto wall survive at the building on Sienna Street as well as at locations on Waliców, Krochmalna and Zelazna streets. We can see a fragment of the wall erected in 1940 between Sienna and Zlota streets.

The monument to the Memory of Jews and Poles:

In the former sports field "Skra", in the years 1941-1943, Jews who died of hunger and illness were buried in mass graves. In 1944, Poles were shot here. After the war the bodies were exhumed and the remains (6588) were put in the Cemetery of the Insurgents at Wolska Street.

In 1988 during the excavation of foundations under the house building one discovered remains of 300 Jews and Poles.

In 1989 a monument was erected on the remaining part to commemorate the mass graves of Poles and Jews killed during the World War II.

The Jewish Cemetery

This cemetery founded in 1806 is one of the few Jewish cemeteries still functioning in Poland. It counts about 33 ha of the area and 250 000 graves is here (500 000 buried bodies). Over 150,000 gravestones have survived war and German occupation . Its sizes permit to understand, how huge was warsaw Jewish community.It is the resting place of many distinguished people in the history of the Jews, Warsaw and Poland.

[Apart from tzaddiks and rabbis, there are also the graves of Jewish authors, actors and the creator of Esperanto, Ludwik Zamenhof (d. 1917). Here you will find the mass graves from World War II, the burial mound of Prof. Majer Bałaban (d. 1942), and Adam Czerniaków, chairman of the Judenrat [ which was a Jewish council in a Ghetto] (d. 1942).

The former Bersons and Baumans Children's Hospital

This hospital was built in 1878 for Jewish children, funded by donors, Majer Berson Paulina Bauman. Janusz Korczak worked there before World War I. On August 1942 the children and staff were transferred to the school building in the "big" Ghetto, and from there to Umschtagplatz for deportation to death camp in Treblinka. After 1952 the building was adapted it as a municipal children's isolation hospital. On the building was placed a commemorative plaque for Dr. Anna Braude- Heller (1888-1943), director of the local hospital murdered in the bunker together with sick children in the central Ghetto during uprising.

The Ester Rachel Kamińska and Ida Kamińska Jewish Theater

The theater was built in 1969. It houses the Jewish Theater [came into being in 1949 in the Łodź and in 1955 was transferred to Warsaw] which presents plays in Yiddish, the Headquarters of the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland , the Polish-Yiddish Journal Słowo Słowo Żydowskie (Dos Jidisze Wort), and the American-Polish-Israeli Shalom Foundation.

Próżna Street

Four tenement houses between Grzybowski Square and Zielna Street , No 7, 9, 12 and-14, which are in a poor condition are one of the few remaining fragments of Jewish Warsaw.

Prices (includes transport):

Special Individual Tour (1 Person) = 350 PLN or 88 Euros

Small Groups (2 People) = 175 PLN or 44 Euros per person

Small Groups (3 People) = 135 PLN or 33 Euros per person

Small Groups (4 to 6 People) = 125 PLN or 31 Euros per person

Large Groups (7 to 13 People) = 93 PLN or 23 Euros per person

Large Groups (14+ People) = 57 PLN or 14 Euros per person.

To book or enquire further about this tour, please visit our Warsaw Tours Contact Page.