Judaika i zbiory judaików w Polsce od przedwojnia po dzień dzisiejszy. Zarys problematyki
Judaica and Judaica Collections in Poland since pre-WWII to Present. An Outline.

Summary/Abstract: In pre-1939 Poland, although some Judaica existed in a few museums and a few outstanding private collections, the absolute majority of ritual objects was found in the thousands of synagogues, as well as private homes of Polish Jews. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, most Judaica were destroyed but a part of them – mainly objects made of precious metals, were taken to the German Reich. Those objects that had been hidden in the ghettoes, or that had been in safekeeping on the “Aryan side”, were largely appropriated by the local Polish population. Looted Judaica originating from Poland which were found in the American zone of occupied Germany, were eventually transferred, mainly to Israel and USA through the Jewish restitution organizations JCR and JRSO. Judaic antique ritual objects and works by Jewish artists that had remained in Poland were, by various means, transferred to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw or to the state and municipal museums as their property. These objects’ provenance is largely unknown. In 1997, Jewish congregations in Poland regained their official legal status. During the following years, they managed to restitute a part of their immobile property – this process is ongoing. Since the fall of the communist regime, Poland has been experiencing a dynamic growth of interest and research in the fields of history, culture and spiritual heritage of Polish Jewry. Owing to this development, it is becoming necessary to finally conduct a full inventory of Judaica in public collections, and to consider the circumstances of their acquisition, and where possible, also their provenance or origins. Time has come to restore the ownership rights of Jewish congregations belonging to the Association of Jewish Congregations in Poland (Związek Gmin Wyznaniowych Żydowskich) or at least to allow them to co-own, or to co-decide the destiny of Torah scrolls and ritual objects that after 1945 had been defined as abandoned or owner-less property and thus nationalized.

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