2019 was an exciting year for Jewish Heritage Europe.
We implemented several new features, notably a section in the Italian language including a weekly summary of our News Feed items, translations of selected articles, and a dedicated Italian language Facebook group.
And we welcomed hundreds of new subscribers to our regular News Feed and monthly Newsletter, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
JHE director Ruth Ellen Gruber spoke on Jewish heritage issues at conferences in Europe, the United States, and Israel — she and our new regular contributor Michele Migliori both took part in a conference on Jewish heritage in Slovenia, held in Jerusalem in September.
MOST SHARED POSTS
Over the past year, we posted around 240 items in our Jewish Heritage Europe News Feed and Have Your Say op-eds.
As 2019 comes to an end, we thought we would draw attention to the articles that were most shared this past year on social media.
Here they are, in reverse chronological order.….they encompass a remarkably wide range of subjects — and geographical locations. We still can’t figure out what makes these the particular posts that were shared the most — all were shared hundreds of times, some of them thousands — but they truly demonstrate the scope and vitality of Jewish heritage developments across Europe.
CLICK THE HEADLINES TO ACCESS THE POSTS
Hungary: Tracing the history of Budapest’s Dohany Street synagogue through the online photo archive Fortepan
Posted December 26, 2019
Images of its history, via photographs in the Hungarian online Fortepan archive, as well as our recent photos
Lithuania: RIP Simonas Dovidavičius (Simon Davidovich) 1960-2019
Posted December 22, 2019
We mourn the death of an influential expert on Jewish heritage
Jewish cemeteries: ESJF gets new €1 million grant for mapping in 7 countries; recent desecration in Slovakia is latest in spate of vandalisms, raising concerns and questions
Posted December 19, 2019
Important Jewish cemeteries developments
Kosovo: Pristina’s “New” Jewish cemetery has been restored as part of a heritage revitalization project sponsored by the EU and UNDP
Posted December 17, 2019
It was restored as part of a €2 million revitalization project involving 18 selected sites of religious and cultural significance in various locations around Kosovo.
Hungary: the exterior of Szeged’s majestic New Synagogue was restored two years ago, but continuing water damage threatens the sumptuous interior
Posted December 12, 2019
See photos — the estimated the cost of full restoration of the interior, including rewiring and restoration of the sumptuous decoration, is approximately €6.6 million
See the Rumbach st synagogue in Budapest, restored to its glory — and watch a video of the retractable Bimah!
Posted December 10, 2019
It will be reopened next spring as a Jewish museum and cultural/religious/educational center
Poland: Mazel tov to 2019 POLIN award winner Natalia Bartczak and Special Award recipient Auschwitz Jewish Center
Posted December 4, 2019
Mazel tov!
Poland: Memorial park at site of destroyed Great Synagogue dedicated in Oświęcim, the town where the Nazis built Auschwitz
Posted November 29, 2019
The latest commemorative project of the Auschwitz Jewish Center.
Cobblestones cut from mazevot used as paving in Prague are being returned to Jewish community
Posted November 20, 2019
The communist regime had used them to pave a prominent downtown pedestrian promenade.
Ukraine: Fire Guts former Great Synagogue in Illintsi. Had long been used as a carpentry workshop (UPDATE: Much of structure appears to have survived)
Posted November 16, 2019
Watch a video of the blaze.
Germany: A new synagogue is inaugurated in Konstanz, 81 years after the pre-war synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht
Posted November 11, 2019
Following the inauguration ceremony, a new rabbi was installed. Watch video.
Kristallnacht Photo Essay: Wonderful surviving — and restored — synagogues to mark the 81st anniversary
Posted November 8, 2019
Continuing our commemorative tradition.
Have Your Say: Jewish Sibiu – An Almost Forgotten Story
Posted November 3, 2019
A personal essay by activist and educator Anda Reuben.
Hungary: students clean up part of Budapest’s vast Kozma utca Jewish cemetery
Posted October 31, 2019
It’s a huge undertaking!
Synagogues documentary uses stunning drone footage — watch online on vimeo
Posted October 17, 2019
It’s Sacred Spaces: From Temple to Synagogue— a documentary film by Celia Lowenstein.
Austria: architect of St. Pölten synagogue, a Holocaust victim, is commemorated
Posted September 29, 2019
Theodor Schreier died in the Nazi ghetto/concentration camp Terezin.
Hungary: Discovering Budapest’s lesser known synagogues. Part 3 – Stand-alone synagogues
Posted September 26, 2019
Third part of a three-part series.
Stained glass windows by US Jewish artist dedicated in German church housed in a former synagogue
Posted September 25, 2019
Six vividly colorful windows by the artist Barney Zeitz.
Ukraine: building works discover remnants of destroyed 18th century Great Synagogue of Buchach
Posted August 29, 2019
They were discovered during construction work to build a store on the site.
Ukraine: Documentation of Jewish cemetery in Busk uncovers previously unknown Jewish gravestones from 16th century
Posted August 25, 2019
They were discovered during this summer’s Jewish cemetery documentation Field School organized by the Jewish Galicia and Bukovina organization (JGB).
Jewish community closed Vilnius Synagogue for 2 days citing security concerns following removal of plaque honoring anti-Soviet hero who also was Holocaust collaborator
Posted August 6/8, 2019
The community had cited security threats.
UK: Bones reburied in Oxford bear witness to medieval Jewish cemetery; archaeological analysis of 800-year-old “kosher” garbage pinpoints medieval Jewish presence
Posted August 5, 2019
The excavations were at Magdalen College in Oxford.
Hungary: Singing Hallelujah .. the grand Synagogue in Pécs marks 150th birthday
Posted July 25, 2019′
Watch video!
Poland: Watch volunteers organized overnight come out to paint over antisemitic graffiti at Tarnów Jewish cemetery
Posted July 22, 2019
An important response to hate.
Ukraine: “In Our Synagogue” – film shot in the Khust synagogue and based on a Kafka story, wins Odessa Film Festival award
Posted July 21, 2019
The 30 minute film by Ivan Orlenko and is based on an unfinished story by Franz Kafka.
Lithuania: Archaeologists announce sensational discoveries at site of destroyed Vilna Great Synagogue
Posted July 19, 2019
They include the front section of the Bimah and an inscription honors Vilnius Jews who went to live in Tiberius and Jerusalem in the 18th century.
Italy: Venosa — a treasure trove of catacombs & other Jewish heritage dating back to ancient Roman times
Posted July 5, 2019
Extraordinary Jewish heritage in southern Italy.
Poland: Crowdfunding to help stonemason who created Holocaust memorials, whose workshop was demolished by vandals who left antisemitic graffiti
Posted June 30, 2019
He fashioned the Holocaust memorials erected in recent years in the nearby towns of Karmanowice, Rogalów, and Wołomin.
Poland: Jewish cemetery in Tarnów rededicated after extensive restoration; new wall, facilities, smartphone app
Posted June 28, 2019
The 2-year renovation saw repair and rebuilding of its wall, and the opening of a permanent exhibition in the former pre-burial hall.
Italy: Visit Jewish Pisa (in the shadow of the Leaning Tower….)
Posted June 26, 2019
It’s just a few steps away, behind a wall.
Poland: Longtime Jewish heritage activist Adam Bartosz to receive annual Irena Sendler Award
Posted June 20, 2019
He’s a pioneer in Jewish heritage work in Tarnów.
Turkey: Restoration begins on Etz Hayim synagogue in Izmir
Posted June 17, 2019
Thanks to a grant from the Izmir Development Agency, which will cover 75 percent of the total cost.
Austria: Kobersdorf synagogue bought by Burgenland region; to be restored as cultural site focusing on local Jewish heritage
Posted June 12, 2019
To be a cultural space for exhibitions, concerts, symposiums and in particular events and exhibitions that deal with the Jewish heritage of Burgenland.
Poland: Polish culture web site highlights Polish synagogues
Posted June 4, 2019
It highlights a selection of sites around the country.
Italy: Major exhibition of artifacts from Bologna’s “lost” medieval Jewish cemetery, which was rediscovered during excavations in 2012-2014
Posted May 31, 2019
At the Bologna Jewish Museum.
Italy: Magnificent Synagogue of Casale Monferrato marks 50 years since fullscale restoration, with video that shows the dramatic process
Posted May 29, 2019
An amazing building!
America’s Memorial Day: we mark it with an image of the grave of a Jewish American soldier who fell fighting in France in World War I
Posted May 27, 2019
RIP!
Hungary: the uphill battle to clean and maintain Budapest’s vast Kozma street Jewish cemetery. Part 1
Posted May 16, 2019
An enormous undertaking at Europe’s largest Jewish cemetery.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Local Muslim Youth Organize Clean-up of Jewish Cemetery in Tuzla
Posted April 28, 2019
An important civic initiative.
Ten Synagogues in Belarus: news site publishes a photo essay of a ruined landscape
Posted April 18, 2019
All but two of the synagogues on the list are ruined.
Poland: the “virtual reconstruction” of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw restores memory and underscores the transcendent symbolism of architecture and built heritage
Posted April 17, 2019
Watch the video!
Lithuania: documentation of Seirijai Jewish cemetery complete
Posted April 11, 2019
Documentation by the Maceva Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Catalogue.
Updated with Statement from Romanian Jewish Federation: Carved wooden ark of historic synagogue in Siret, Romania dismantled & taken to Israel, where it is up for auction
February 11, 2019
Developments in a murky story.
Serbia: Jewish cemetery in Novi Pazar under restoration
Posted February 10, 2019
A welcome initiative by the city.
REDISCOVERing “concealed” Jewish heritage in the Danube Region: a 3-year, EU-funded tourism & education project in 8 countries
Posted February 6, 2019
An ambitious cooperative initiative to create a cross-border network.
Downloadable (free) Jewish heritage travel guide(s) to Lithuania
Posted February 3, 2019
In print and online.
Lithuania: Synagogue in Pušalotas and former Vilna Ghetto Library building put under state protection
Posted February 1, 2019
Positive news — we hope it helps.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019: Photo essay of Shoah memorials that personalize those who were murdered
Posted January 26, 2019
Names matter!
Lithuania: Stairs of Vilnius church made from Jewish gravestones finally dismantled
Posted January 22, 2019
The matzevot were returned to the city’s vast Užupis Jewish cemetery where they may have once stood.
Jewish gravestones as paving….in one of Prague’s toniest pedestrian promenades
Posted January 13, 2019
The cobbles were used to construct the pedestrian promenade along Na Příkopě street, at one end of Wenceslas Square, that opened in November 1985.
ESJF gets €800,000 EU Grant to Map, Survey 1,500 Jewish Cemeteries
Posted January 11, 2019
Work to be carried out using drones and other technology.