Adam Czerniaków a Muzeum im. Matthiasa Bersohna przy Gminie Żydowskiej w Warszawie 1908-1940
Adam Czerniaków and the Mathias Bersohn Museum at the Jewish Community in Warsaw

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with Adam Czerniakow’s relations with the Mathias Bersohn Museum at the Jewish Community in Warsaw. These relations are presented against the background of the history of the museum, whose establishment (in the years 1905-1910) coincided with the beginning of Czerniakow’s work for the Community. The future Judenrat chairman was one of people who work with the greatest dedication for the benefit of the museum and probably personally knew its founder M. Bersohn. Until 1937, the museum was in decline, barely able to survive. This changed when the leadership of the Community was taken over by the Interim Commissioner Board and Czerniakow became the curator. This started a growth of the museum, the cataloguing of the exhibits, and new acquisitions, and Czerniakow had plans to establish the Central Jewish Museum in Poland based on its collections. After the German invasion of Poland, the collections were seized by the occupiers. In March 1940, they were taken to an unknown destination. A part of them most probably ended up in Lower Silesia, where the Third Reich was amassing Judaic exhibits for the Jewish Museum that was to be established in the future. After World War II, probably through the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (IRSO) they found their way to Jewish museums worldwide, where they are kept to this day.

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