A work in progress, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw offers a new vantage point for considering the wider question of what constitutes a Jewish museum and the role such museums can play in Europe today. Will it be a Jewish museum, however that is defined, a Polish museum, a Holocaust museum by another name, or something else? What will be the relation of the “museum of life”, as the Museum resolutely defines itself, to Holocaust education and commemoration, without becoming a “Holocaust museum”? This essay explores these questions from an international perspective.

A work in progress, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw offers a new vantage point for considering the wider question of what constitutes a Jewish museum and the role such museums can play in Europe today. Will it be a Jewish museum, however that is defined, a Polish museum, a Holocaust museum by another name, or something else? What will be the relation of the “museum of life”, as the Museum resolutely defines itself, to Holocaust education and commemoration, without becoming a “Holocaust museum”? This essay explores these questions from an international perspective.