I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1590 

To provide assistance for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in 

Warsaw, Poland. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 18, 2009 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. NADLER of New York, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide assistance for the Museum of the History of 

Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Support for the Mu5 seum of the History of Polish Jews Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Current and future generations benefit 

2 greatly by visible reminders and documentation of 

3 the historical and cultural roots of their society. 

4 (2) It is in the national interest of the United 

5 States to encourage the preservation and protection 

6 of artifacts associated with the heritage of United 

7 States citizens who trace their forbearers to other 

8 countries and to encourage the collection and dis9 semination of knowledge about that heritage. 

10 (3) According to the 2000 United States Cen11 sus, nearly 9,000,000 Americans are of Polish an12 cestry. 

13 (4) At the beginning of World War II, Poland 

14 had the largest Jewish population in Europe. 

15 (5) In 1996, Yeshayahu Weinberg, a founding 

16 director of Tel Aviv’s Diaspora Museum and the 

17 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, created 

18 an international team of experts with the goal of es19 tablishing a Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 

20 (6) The Museum of the History of Polish Jews 

21 will preserve and present the history of the Jewish 

22 people in Poland and the wealth of their culture 

23 spanning a period of 1,000 years. 

24 (7) In 1997, the City of Warsaw donated a par25 cel of land, opposite the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 


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1 Memorial, for the explicit use for the Museum of the 

2 History of Polish Jews. 

3 (8) In 2005, the Government of Poland and the 

4 City of Warsaw agreed to provide 40,000,000 Polish 

5 zlotys for the construction of the Museum of the 

6 History of Polish Jews. 

7 (9) In 2005, an international architectural com8 petition selected a Finnish firm to design the build9 ing for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 

10 (10) In 2006, the building for the Museum of 

11 the History of Polish Jews moved into the last phase 

12 of project design. 

13 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR THE MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY 

14 OF POLISH JEWS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Assistance provided by the Bu16 reau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Depart17 ment of State shall be made available to assist in the de18 velopment of the permanent collection of the Museum of 

19 the History of Polish Jews. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION FOR ASSISTANCE.—To carry out 

21 the purposes of subsection (a), the Secretary of State is 

22 authorized to provide $5,000,000, which shall remain 

23 available until expended, to the Museum for the History 

24 of Polish Jews. 

Æ 


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