13 November 2007

Poland: Warsaw Jewish Museum

Germany is giving 5 million euros for the Warsaw Jewish Museum, according to this Haaretz article.

The German government signed an agreement Monday to provide 5 million euros for the construction of a museum in the Polish capital of Warsaw to document the millennium-long history and culture of Jews in Poland.

The agreement, signed by German Ambassador Michael Gerdts and a Polish sponsorship group, will make funds available for the preparations for the museum's permanent exhibition.

The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is set to open in 2010, across from a memorial to those killed in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

Before the Nazi German invasion in September 1939, 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland. By 1945, most had been murdered by the Nazis.

The contribution is meant as an additional contribution to redress the suffering of Jews caused in the name of Germany and on Poland as well.

"It is also to make clear that Germans continue to acknowledge their responsibility for this tragic past," the ambassador said.

The agreement was signed in an office building which was the site of the Grand Synagogue before the war. It was blown up by the SS commander who quelled the Warsaw ghetto revolt.

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