The partition of Poland in the early 1800s meant Polish Jews became citizens of three different countries – Austria, Prussia and Russia. In the museum, visitors are invited to sit at a table and imagine choosing which country to live in, under these huge portraits of monarchs.  

The Encounters with Modernity gallery (covering 1772–1914)  then takes visitors to the train station, where they read stories of mass migrations and of the role of Jews in developing a network of railways. The questions that Jews asked themselves shortly before the outbreak of World War I were: Are we a nation? Which language should we speak? Do we need our own state?

Of course, the story of the Polish Jews takes a much darker turn at the rise of the Nazis – 90% of the Jewish community died in the Holocaust. But POLIN reminds us all that the story of the Jews in Poland is much longer than this tragic part of the narrative. And as Jewish communities begin to thrive in Poland once again, it serves not only as a reminder, but also as an inspiration for the future.