Basic Jewish History and the Warsaw Ghetto Tour

This tour combines short strolls and riding in a comfortable vehicle or public transport.

The tour explores pre-war Jewish life in Warsaw, story of the Warsaw ghetto, memorial sites and a fascinating revival of the Warsaw Jewish community today.

We will visit Grzybowski square – the place of Jewish life, not death. First to bring alive the atmosphere of the time when Warsaw was home for the largest Jewish community in the world after New York and a world center of yiddish culture. When chassids lived together with socialists, Esperanto was created and Isaac Bashevis Singer, future Nobel Prize winner, wrote his first novels.

But Grzybowski square is a place of Jewish life also today. We`ll go inside the synagogue and see the community house. You will learn a fascinating story of the revival of Jewish life in Poland, what does it mean to be a Jew in Poland after Holocaust, is there anti-semitism?

Actually, I think my experience is quite typical for post-war generations of Poles. At the beginning I learned and knew nothing about Jewish history and culture in Poland. Like all of us. But recently it started to change. How? Why? We`ll have enough time to talk about it   

Next, you will learn the story of the Warsaw ghetto, where almost half a milion Jews were imprisoned. It`s a powerful story of starvation and death, but also of a thriving culture, fashion and love. You will be walking through the fighting area of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 – the very first act of armed resistance against the Nazis in occupied Europe – to the former deportation point, where railcars went off to death camps.

Itinerary:

Prozna – the only surviving Jewish street

The Nozyk synagogue

Jewish commune house

Remnants of the ghetto wall

Former Jewish children`s hospital currently being transformed into the Warsaw Ghetto Museum

Chłodna footbridge installation (it`s one of ghetto`s memorials) – ghetto story 1940-1942

Area of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising fights – ghetto story 1942-1943 and after

Muranów, a housing project built on the rubble of the ghetto

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews – we won`t go inside, only stop on the way to look at a very unique and symbolic architecture

Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes

Miła 18 – memorial of the bunker which served as the headquarters of the Ghetto Uprising commandership

Jewish Memory Lane which leads to deportation point called Umschlagplatz

 

If you wish, the tour can be extended by three additional sites. Just let me know:

Jewish cemetery at Okopowa street – the largest in the world in terms of number of tombstones and world`s biggest collection of Jewish art. It is the only surviving site which fully narrates 200-year history of the Warsaw Jewish community. 

Tour Duration: + 2 hours

Tour Price: + 200 złoty

Entrance fee: 20 złoty/person

Jewish Historical Institute – the biggest Jewish organization in Poland and a repository of UNESCO-enlisted Ringelblum Archive – the largest collection of documentary materials relating to Holocaust. There`s a fascinating exhibition telling the story of a group of people, who – working undercover – documented the plight of the Jews under the Nazi occupation. You will see some of the original documents – the most direct Holocaust account in the world.

Tour Duration: + 1.5 hour

Tour Price: + 200 złoty

Entrance fee: 15 złoty/person

The Zookeepers’ villa – the former home of the Żabińskis, guardians of the Warsaw Zoo during the Second World War. Their story was turned into the book and then movie „Zookeeper’s Wife” starring Jessica Chastain.

You will tour the zoo grounds and the same rooms where Jan and Antonina Żabiński sheltered hundreds of Jews smuggled from the Warsaw ghetto. Not much changed inside since the end of the war. You will see the same piano as the one on which Antonina played a tune to warn those in hiding.

We will walk down to the basement, where the hideout was located. You can still see there an underground tunnel through which they could escape to an abandoned pheasant enclosure.

Tour Duration: + 1.5 hour

Tour Price: + 200 złoty

Entrance fee: 50 złoty/person

 

Please note:

The Nozyk synagogue, the cemetery and Jewish Historical Institute are closed during Shabbat (Friday afternoon, Saturday) and on Jewish holidays.

We will be going inside the buildings and this tour includes admission to some places.

 

You can combine this tour with:

How it works?

You can choose from two options!


Option One:
Walking + Public Transport (distance to walk ca. 4 kms)

Duration:
6 hours

Meeting point:
at a place convenient to you: your hotel, airport, train station etc.

Price:
1050 złoty

What`s included:
Guiding service

Extra expenses:
Public transport ticket – 15 złoty per person
Nożyk synagogue entrance fee - 20 złoty per person (not available on Friday afternoon and Saturday)


Option Two:
Private car (distance to walk ca. 2 kms)

Duration:
4 hrs

Meeting point:
at a place convenient to you: your hotel, airport, train station etc.

Price:
1300 złoty – maximum 4 persons (5-seat car)
1500 złoty – 5-6 persons (mini-van)
1700 złoty – 7 persons and more (bus)
1900 złoty – 20 persons and more

What`s included:
Guiding service
Car service

Extra expenses:
Nożyk synagogue entrance fee - 20 złoty per person (not available on Friday afternoon and Saturday)


Book:
If you like this tour, just drop me a message with your preferred date and time. Let me also know which option of the tour do you choose, how many of you are coming and where are you staying in Warsaw