[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 96 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1299-E1300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN PRAISE OF THE MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF POLISH JEWS IN WARSAW, POLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 14, 2007

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my 
support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland.
  Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to Poland, and I was 
deeply inspired by my meeting with Jerzy Halbersztadt, the Executive 
Director of the Museum, and Ewa Wierzynska, the Deputy Director. I 
commend them for their extraordinary hard work and vision in bringing 
this museum to life. A groundbreaking ceremony for the museum, located 
in the heart of the pre-World War II Jewish district, will be held on 
June 26th. I also commend the municipality of Warsaw and the Government 
of Poland for supporting the establishment of this important 
institution.
  Jews arrived in the medieval Kingdom of Poland almost one thousand 
years ago, as they escaped persecution in neighboring countries. 
Indeed, the Hebrew word for Poland is

[[Page E1300]]

``Polin,'' which some translate as ``here you shall rest.'' But while 
everyone in Poland learns about the Holocaust, many people know little 
about the lives of the Jews before they met their death in the 
concentration camps of Nazi occupiers. This rich history spanning a 
thousand years must be reclaimed. Indeed, understanding the travesty of 
the Holocaust requires a full understanding of what was destroyed.
  Accordingly, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will 
commemorate the 3 million Polish Jews who died in World War II. It will 
also celebrate the nearly one thousand years of proud Jewish culture in 
Poland.
  In addition, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews will enhance 
understanding of Jewish history and cultural roots at a time when anti-
Semitism is growing throughout Europe. As a former President of the 
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and now as Chairman of the Helsinki 
Commission, I am heartened by the educational role this museum can play 
in fulfilling the goals that the OSCE participating States have 
undertaken in the field of combating anti-Semitism.
  This museum has been some years in coming. In 1996, Yeshayahu 
Weinberg, a founding director of Tel Aviv's Diaspora Museum and the 
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, created an international team 
of experts with the goal of establishing a museum to display and 
preserve artifacts which showcase the extensive culture of the Jewish 
people in Poland. In 1997, the Warsaw City Council donated 13,000 
square meters of land for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews 
inside the old Jewish Quarter and opposite the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 
Memorial. In 2005, an international architectural competition selected 
a Finnish firm to design the building housing the Museum of the History 
of Polish Jews. The astounding architecture remarkably represents the 
parting of the Red Sea through ingenious use of mortar, steel and 
space.
  Approximately 500,000 visitors are anticipated to visit the museum 
each year. Visitors will take a virtual journey through a world where 
Jews experienced not only persecution and poverty but perseverance and 
success. If all goes as planned, the museum will open in 2009 with 
initial costs funded primarily by the governments of Poland and 
Germany, and through private donations from Jewish communities around 
the world.
  Madam Speaker, it is estimated that eighty percent of all Jews and 
over 9 million Americans trace some of their ancestry to the Polish 
Jewish community. This museum has the potential to touch the lives of 
our own citizens in deeply personal ways. I look forward to visiting it 
myself.

                          ____________________