Jews in Present Day Poland
For the approximately 8,000 Jews that live in Poland, mainly in Warsaw, but also in Krakow, Lodz, Breslau and other cities, present conditions made the renewal of Jewish life and the cultivation of national traditions and cultural heritage possible. The Social and Cultural Society of Jews in Poland is active and may be found in its own building on Grzybowski Square. It has branch offices in all major cities of Poland, possess clubs which are the venue for various events and meetings, and publishes the Folks-Sztyme, a weekly in Yiddish and Polish. The Ester Rachel Kaminska State Jewish Theater shares the same address. The Union of Jewish Religious Congregations has its seat in Warsaw and branches in all cities with concentrations of Jews. The congregations care for Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and houses of prayer, and are involved in charity works including the provision of kosher meals in its cafeterias. The Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations in the Polish Republic (KKOZRP) coordinates the activities of the different Jewish organizations in Poland. The Lauder Foundation has established a number of clubs and events for Jewish youth.

Synagogues can be found in Warsaw, Cracow, Zamosc, Tykocin, Lesko, Lanco, Rzeszow, Chmielnicki, Kielce and Gora Kalwaria, but not all are functioning today. The oldest synagogue in Poland, Stara Synagoga, built in the early 15th century, can be found in Cracow. Today, it hosts a Jewish museum.

It is also possible to visit the extermination camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka. Auschwitz currently houses the Oswiecim State Museum, exhibiting documents from Nazi crimes. Block Number 27 is set aside for martyrology of the Jews and the millions who were killed there.

All that remains of Treblinka is a mausoluem and monument consisting of thousands of shards of broken stone.

At Majdanek, there is a museum and a monument, which incorporates a mound of human ashes commemorating the 350,000 people who were murdered there.

Besides the camps, Poland also has the largest Jewish burial ground in Europe, which is found in Lodz. Historic grave sites can be found in Gora Kalwaria (the Ger) and Lesajsk (Lezensk).

In July 2004, during an excavation of the site of the Great Synagogue in Oswiecim, archeologists uncovered a unique collection of Jewish treasures. Oswiecim's population was 90 percent Jewish, but was wiped out after the German invasion of Poland. It is also where the Auschwitz death camp was built. Archaeologists dug at the site based on the recollection of Holocaust survivor Yishayahu Yarot, who remembered the relics being hidden by the Jews before the Nazis razed the synagogue. Many Jewish ritual objects were found at the site, including three bronze candelabras, a bronze menorah, ten chandeliers and a ner tamid. Tiles, marble plaques and charred wood from the synagogue were also discovered. The objects will most likely go through a year-long restoration process and then be displayed in the Auschwitz Jewish Center.