This special tour is offered in partnership with JewishGen, the genealogical research division of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. It features an opportunity to help preserve, with our own hands, Jewish cemeteries that have long been neglected.
Overview
Join Jewish Heritage Travel, JewishGen and the Museum of Jewish Heritage for a unique study and service trip to Poland, where you will explore significant Jewish historical sites, learn about Polish Jewish life past and present, and contribute to the preservation of neglected Jewish cemeteries. In this way, you will help to restore, with your own hearts and hands, collective Jewish family history and heritage for future generations.
Accompanied by scholar Dan Oren, M.D president of the public charity Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland, we begin our travels in Warsaw, visiting the magnificent Warsaw Jewish Cemetery as well as the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, recognized as one of the finest historical museums in the world. We then travel to Kraków, where we spend a restful Shabbat and meet with a leader of the local Jewish community. The following day, we honor the darkest history of Polish Jewry at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
For the service portion of our trip, we will be based in the city of Rzeszów for two days and work to clean up three Jewish cemeteries in the surrounding towns, including one that was founded in the 16th century. We will clear brush and debris, tend to the sites, and paint a fence at one. Essentially abandoned for 80 years, these cemeteries are among the many in Poland that have been neglected and forgotten. In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to document, restore, and preserve them, and our work is part of this important commitment.
We finish our tour in Lublin, Poland’s, historic center of Jewish learning. There, we will imbibe its pre- and post-war Jewish history, meet the dedicated staff of the Grodzka Gate museum and cultural center, and visit the still-standing great Yeshiva of Lublin.
Throughout, Dr. Oren and expert local guides will provide education, insight, and context, and share in this unforgettable exploration of Jewish Poland.
Highlights
- Tours of key sites of Polish Jewish history in Warsaw and Kraków
- Presentations and discussions with genealogy and Polish Jewish cemetery preservation expert Dan Oren, the trip’s accompanying scholar
- Opportunities to honor the memory of Poland’s Jews through maintenance efforts at three abandoned cemeteries
- Guided tours and special meetings in Lublin and Lancút, including a visit to the magnificent restored synagogue
- A day trip to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the newly expanded Auschwitz Jewish Center
Itinerary
Wednesday, September 3 | Warsaw
Morning: Arrivals. Please plan your flights so you can get to the hotel by this morning.
Afternoon: We gather at 1:00 PM for a brief orientation and to meet each other before heading out to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery for an extensive guided tour. Established in 1806, it is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world, covering 83 acres. We learn its history, including the renovation efforts in the 1990s following decades of neglect, visit the graves of notable Polish Jews, and honor those who perished.
Evening: We enjoy a group dinner together, featuring pierogi and other traditional Polish foods, as well as dessert at a special chocolate cafe. There will then be an orientation to the rest of the trip by the tour scholar.
Meals Included: Dinner
Accommodations: Royal Tulip
Thursday, September 4 | Warsaw
Morning: After breakfast at the hotel, we visit the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, located on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. Here you have the opportunity to explore the exhibitions, browse the shop, and have lunch on your own at the museum cafe.
Afternoon: With our specialist local guide, we take a bus tour of Jewish Warsaw, including a stop at the remaining original wall of the Warsaw ghetto.
Evening: Dinner is at the hotel, followed by our first lecture.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Royal Tulip
Friday, September 5 | Warsaw | Kraków
Morning: We visit the Jewish Historical Institute, created in 1947 as a repository of documentary materials relating to the Jewish historical presence in Poland. Here we will see the original milk canisters where the famous “Ringelblum Archive” were hidden, as well as many original documents recording daily life in the Warsaw Ghetto during the war years.
After lunch on your own, we travel by bus to Kraków and check in to our hotel.
Evening: Optional Shabbat services or free time. We then share a Shabbat dinner together at the hotel.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Kraków
Saturday, September 6 | Kraków
Morning: Breakfast at the hotel, followed by optional morning services or free time to relax or explore Kraków on your own.
We have lunch together at a kosher restaurant, and have a discussion in preparation for tomorrow’s visit to Auschwitz.
Afternoon: We meet Jonathan Ornstein, Executive Director of the Kraków JCC, who will illuminate us about the organization’s activities and focus on rebuilding Jewish life in Kraków.
Afterward, we take a walking tour of Kazimierz and Ghetto district of Kraków with an expert local guide, including a stop at Galicia Jewish Museum, home to an internationally acclaimed permanent photographic exhibition, Traces of Memory.
Evening: Free time to enjoy dinner on your own.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Kraków
Sunday, September 7 | Kraków | Rzeszow
Morning: We travel by bus to Auschwitz, about an hour away, and spend the morning there with an expert local guide.
We also visit the Auschwitz Jewish Center a short distance up the road, where we have lunch and experience the center, which was opened in 2000 so that people could gather, learn, and remember the victims of the Holocaust. Afterwards, a shuttle takes us to Birkenau.
Late afternoon: We travel to the city of Rzeszow, about three-and-a-half hours, taking time on the bus to process our experiences.
Evening: After checking in, we have dinner at the hotel together, with further opportunity to discuss the day.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Hotel Rzeszów
Monday, September 8 | Rzeszów | Przemyśl | Rzeszów
Morning: Today begins our service work, travelling to the city of Przemysl, about an hour and 15 minutes away. Prepared and guided by Dr. Oren, we spend five hours at two Jewish cemeteries, primarily cleaning brush and debris and doing light gardening to restore dignity to these largely abandoned spaces.
One, founded in the 16th century, was so abandoned that at one point, only one broken matzevah (tombstone) and the original gate indicated that there was a Jewish cemetery here. The second is newer, from the 19th century, and is overgrown, with many matzevot in need of care.
Paper bag lunches are provided.
Late Afternoon: We return to Rzeszów. Following dinner on your own, we enjoy an evening lecture by Dr. Oren: “How to Read a Jewish Tombstone.”
Meals Included: breakfast, lunch
Accommodations: Hotel Rzeszów
Tuesday, September 9 | Rzeszów | Wielkie Oczy | Łańcut | Lublin
Morning: We travel to the village of Wielkie Oczy, where we visit the synagogue and engage in our second service project: painting the fence and gate of its cemetery, which contains around 100 matzevot. Built at the end of the 19th century, the synagogue was destroyed in World War I and rebuilt in 1927, primarily with financial contributions from Jewish emigrants from Wielkie Oczy in the United States. We finish our work in the early afternoon, with paper bag lunches provided.
Afternoon: We make our way to Lublin, stopping at Łańcut to tour its synagogue, which dates to 1761. Prior to World War II, a thriving Jewish community constituted about one-third of the Łańcut population.
Evening: Check in to the hotel and dinner on your own.
Meals included: breakfast, lunch
Accommodations: IBB Hotel Lublin
Wednesday, September 10 | Lublin | Warsaw
Morning: On our last day together, we visit several sites in Lublin, including the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva Synagogue, destroyed during World War II, then turned into a medical school. In late 2003, the building was returned to the Jewish community of Warsaw, which undertook its reconstruction and renovation. It’s official re-opening took place in 2007. We also stop at the Krakowska Gate, built in the 14th century, before taking a walking tour of Lublin Old Town and touring the Grodzka Gate Museum and cultural center, where we will meet some of the amazing staff who play a part in its Grodzka’s robust role in preserving, celebrating, and educating on Jewish life and history in Lublin.
We have lunch together, then travel by bus back to Warsaw, around two hours.
Evening: We enjoy a final lecture by Dr. Oren, “The Surviving Jewish Community of Poland,” then share a farewell dinner together at the hotel.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Warsaw Airport Courtyard by Marriott
Thursday, September 11 | Warsaw
Individual departures for flights home.
Gallery
Traveling with you…
Each of our scholars and tour leaders are outstanding experts in their fields and play an active role in helping us design our journeys as well as accompanying us as we travel.
Dan Oren
Dan Oren, M.D. is president of the public charity Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland. Founded in 2016, FJHP has supported cleanups and restorations at dozens of Polish Jewish cemeteries. Oren is Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Adjunct) at Yale University and author of The Wedding Photo (Rimmon Press), a book on how to research genealogy and turn it into active preservation of family memory. He received a 2023 “Medal of Honor” Award from the Polish Ministry of Culture for his work in protecting Polish Jewish heritage and the 2024 Dr. Richard Plotz Volunteer of the Year Award from JewishGen. He is program chair of the 2025 IAJGS Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Oren will do his best to support genealogical explorations of participants in the trip.
Jola Wojciechowska
Jola Wojciechowska is a highly experienced and qualified city guide, holding an official government guide license (2003) and a tour leader license (2005). She is a certified guide for several prestigious Warsaw museums, including the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Emmanuel Ringelblum Archive Exhibition at the Jewish Historical Institute. She actively volunteers in documenting architectural details of historic tenement houses and contributes to the preservation efforts of the historical Jewish cemetery.
Jola has worked for international corporations and organizations such as Erasmus+ Program, Polish Tourist Organization, Polin Travel (focused on genealogical and heritage tours), Humanus Network (specializing in Holocaust and Human Rights Education Consulting), and Jewish Community Relations Council of MN and the Dakotas (JCRC) as well as for numerous private tourists from around the world.
She’s energetic, passionate about Warsaw’s history and culture. She offers informative and engaging tours that incorporate diverse perspectives on Polish history and cultural heritage.
Accommodations
Warsaw: Royal Tulip Warsaw Centre
Located in the heart of Warsaw, the modern and stylish Royal Tulip is surrounded by parks, stores, cafes, restaurants, and more. The hotel offers spacious rooms designed for comfort and featuring amazing views of the city as well as a host of top-notch in-room amenities, a gym, and a restaurant.
Rzeszów; Hotel Rzeszów
The spacious and elegant rooms at the Hotel Rzeszów provide panoramic views of the city of Rzeszów and feature modern amenities, including wireless internet, air conditioning, minibar, safe, work desk, and coffee and tea. Centrally located, the hotel provides a high standard of service and has an on-site fitness club and day spa.
Lublin: IBB Grand Hotel Lublin
The elegant IBB Grand is a 4-star deluxe hotel located in a 100-year-old beautifully renovated building in the heart of Lublin, with meticulously restored architectural details and interior design of the Belle Epoque. Each spacious room features a harmonious mix of classic design and modern amenities, including WiFi and premium toiletries.
Warsaw: Warsaw Airport Courtyard by Marriott
Perfectly located for easy access to the airport terminal, the 4-star Courtyard by Marriott features fine hospitality and spacious rooms with deluxe amenities and complimentary WiFi. Plush pillow-top bedding and soundproof windows support a peaceful night’s rest. The hotel restaurant draws inspiration from a variety of cuisines, including Polish.
Details
Program Cost: $4,350* includes:
- 8 nights’ hotel accommodations
- Full breakfast daily; two lunches; five dinners
- All group transportation via deluxe air-conditioned coach
- All lectures, guided tours, museums and site entrance fees
*Per person, double occupancy; single supplement:$999. Fees not included: gratuities: $125 and Museum of Jewish Heritage membership for nonmembers.
Travel note: Plan to arrive in Warsaw on Wednesday, September 3, 2025 and depart from Warsaw on Thursday, September 11, 2025 later in the day.
Secure your place
Book Now: use the link below to reach our easy online booking form.
By phone: 845-256-0197 Monday–Friday, 10am–4pm EST.
Payment Reserve your space with a nonrefundable deposit of $1,000 per person. Final balance is due 120 days prior to departure.
Membership Participation on these tours is a benefit for active members of our museum partners. During the registration process, you will be asked about your membership status with your affiliated museum. If you are not a current member, you will have a chance to activate your membership.
Participation Tour sizes are limited to 28 participants unless otherwise noted. Trips entail considerable walking including over uneven terrain. Participants need to be in good health, be able to keep up with the group, be able to experience group and cultural differences with grace. Please let us know if you have any physical conditions that may require special attention while on tour.
Cancellations All cancellations must be received by Jewish Heritage Travel in writing. Cancellations received 120 days or more prior to departure: full refund less nonrefundable deposits, per person; 119–90 days prior to departure: 50% refund per person after nonrefundable deposits. 89–0 days before departure: no refund.
Trip Cancellation Insurance Jewish Heritage Travel strongly urges all participants to purchase travel insurance for coverage of losses necessitated by having to cancel due to illness or accident. For your convenience, we are providing a link to Allianz Global Assistance, which many past participants have used. Please use code ACCAM/Agency ID# F026815 or feel free to use your own insurance agent. When purchasing insurance, please consider the plans carefully to familiarize yourself with what is covered. In this context, do take note that most insurance companies generally will waive exclusion for preexisting conditions only if your application is received by them within 14 days from the date of your program registration. If you have a preexisting medical condition and are interested in taking trip insurance, you should do so either with Allianz or through your own insurance agent within 14 days of registration.
Changes All rights are reserved by Jewish Heritage Travel to make scholar substitutions and/or to modify the itinerary (including hotels) as needed. Every reasonable effort will be made to operate the program as planned; however, should unforeseen world events and conditions require the itinerary to be altered, Jewish Heritage Travel reserves the right to do so for the safety and best interest of the group. Any extra expenses incurred in this situation are the responsibility of the participant.
Disclaimer of Responsibility By registering for this program, participant specifically waives any and all claims of action against the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Heritage Travel office and their respective staffs for damages, loss, injury, accident, or death incurred by any person in connection with this tour. The Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Heritage Travel office and their respective staffs assume no responsibility or liability in connection with the service of any train, vessel, carriage, aircraft, or other conveyance that may be used wholly or in part in the performance of their duty to the passengers. Neither will the Museum of Jewish Heritage or the Jewish Heritage Travel office or their staffs be responsible for any injury, death, loss, accident, delay, or irregularity through neglect or default of any company or person engaged in carrying out the purposes for which tickets, vouchers, or coupons are issued. No responsibility is accepted for losses or expenses due to sickness, viruses, weather, strikes, wars, and other causes. In the event it becomes necessary or advisable for any reason whatsoever to alter the itinerary or arrangements, including hotels or scholars, such alterations may be made without penalty. All rights reserved to require any participant to withdraw from the tour at his/her own expense when such an action is determined by the tour staff to be in the best interest of the participant’s health and safety and that of the group in general. Prices subject to change. Cost in effect at time of registration will be honored.
