Zabinski-Villa / Zoo in Warsaw

Few visitors realize that the Warsaw Zoo is home to the former villa of Jan Żabiński, a man who risked everything to help those facing certain death.

L ocated just 200 metres from the main entrance to the Warsaw Zoo, the Żabiński Villa is the setting of one of the city’s most remarkable wartime stories. Some visitors may recognize it from the film The Zookeeper’s Wife, but the true history of this house goes far beyond cinema.

Jan and Antonina Żabiński lived in the villa from 1931. Remarkably, it was one of the few buildings within the zoo complex to survive World War II without being destroyed. During the German occupation, Jan Żabiński, then director of the Warsaw Zoo, used his family home as a place of refuge, secretly sheltering Jews who faced deportation and certain death. At enormous personal risk, the Żabińskis turned their private home into a space of resistance, courage, and humanity, saving hundreds of lives.

After the war, the villa’s interior was restored in the style of the 1930s. Today, the museum displays numerous private belongings of the family, offering insight into their everyday life. The renovated cellar, where persecuted Jews were hidden during the occupation, can also be visited.

In the former dining room, visitors can see part of the insect collection of Szymon Tenenbaum, a world-renowned entomologist of Jewish origin. Imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941, Tenenbaum entrusted his valuable collection to Jan Żabiński. Most of it is now held by the Polish Academy of Sciences, with selected items displayed in the villa.

The museum is open to visitors and includes the former dining room, salon, study with library, and the cellar, preserving the memory of extraordinary moral courage in one of Warsaw’s darkest chapters.

zoo.waw.pl/en/zabinski-villa/history [en + pl]

The museum has no online booking system.

Main image © Free Tour Warsaw