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. BUR-
TON of Indiana, Mr. NADLER of New York, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. SHER-
MAN, 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Support for the Mu-
seum of the History of Polish Jews Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Current and future generations benefit 
greatly by visible reminders and documentation of 
the historical and cultural roots of their society. 
(2) It is in the national interest of the United 
States to encourage the preservation and protection 
of artifacts associated with the heritage of United 
States citizens who trace their forbearers to other 
countries and to encourage the collection and dis-
semination of knowledge about that heritage. 
(3) According to the 2000 United States Cen-
sus, nearly 9,000,000 Americans are of Polish an-
cestry. 
(4) At the beginning of World War II, Poland 
had the largest Jewish population in Europe. 
(5) In 1996, Yeshayahu Weinberg, a founding 
director of Tel Aviv’s Diaspora Museum and the 
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, created 
an international team of experts with the goal of es-
tablishing a Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 
(6) The Museum of the History of Polish Jews 
will preserve and present the history of the Jewish 
people in Poland and the wealth of their culture 
spanning a period of 1,000 years. 
(7) In 1997, the City of Warsaw donated a par-
cel of land, opposite the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 
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Memorial, for the explicit use for the Museum of the 
History of Polish Jews. 
(8) In 2005, the Government of Poland and the 
City of Warsaw agreed to provide 40,000,000 Polish 
zlotys for the construction of the Museum of the 
History of Polish Jews. 
(9) In 2005, an international architectural com-
petition selected a Finnish firm to design the build-
ing for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. 
(10) In 2006, the building for the Museum of 
the History of Polish Jews moved into the last phase 
of project design. 
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR THE MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY 
OF POLISH JEWS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Assistance provided by the Bu-
reau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Depart-
ment of State shall be made available to assist in the de-
velopment of the permanent collection of the Museum of 
the History of Polish Jews. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION FOR ASSISTANCE.—To carry out 
the purposes of subsection (a), the Secretary of State is 
authorized to provide $5,000,000, which shall remain 
available until expended, to the Museum for the History 
of Polish Jews. 
Æ 
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