We want to highlight an EU-funded project on the tourism potential of Jewish cultural heritage that is under way in six partner countries. It’s called — the JEWELS TOUR, an acronym taken from its full name – JEWish hEritage as Leverage for Sustainable TOURism.
The project, being carried out from 2024 to 2028 under the Interreg program, has a budget of just under €2 million. It involves eight partners and three associated policy authorities from six EU countries—Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Germany, and Latvia—and one EU candidate country, Ukraine.
The participant bodies are the following — and it is not clear what direct participation there is from local Jewish communities or Jewish institutions:
- Ferrara Municipality
- Breda University of Applied Sciences
- Ośrodek “Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN”
- Coimbra Municipality
- City of Erfurt
- Lublin Municipality
- Riga Investment and Tourism Agency
- Regional Development Agency of Lviv Region
Together, the project description says, “they aim to improve policy instruments to promote the optimal valorization of both tangible and intangible aspects of Jewish Cultural Heritage (JCH).”
The project focuses on making JCH more accessible and attractive, as this can drive significant cultural and economic growth across EU regions. By enhancing the valorization of JCH, JEWELS TOUR contributes to the construction of a more socially cohesive Europe with improved governance. The project seeks to empower policymakers with a comprehensive portfolio of best practices, expand their knowledge and skills in cultural heritage valorization, and strengthen the networks between public authorities and local stakeholders across different EU member states. Moreover, the project aims to create and promote replicable digital solutions for cultural heritage enhancement, further ensuring that JCH becomes a key driver of cultural and economic development in Europe.
In February and March 2026, for example, there was a program to train tour guides to Jewish cultural heritage sites in Riga. It comprised “a structured learning programme combining expert talks, discussions, and on-site visits” to sites including
- Riga Jewish Community House
- Museum “Jews in Latvia”
- Peitav Shul Synagogue
- Major Holocaust remembrance sites
Based on the JEWELS description, the project seems to build on the work carried out by a previous three-year Interreg project that promoted the valorization and tourist potential of “concealed” Jewish heritage. This was the ReDiscover project, which ran from and involved nine mid-sized cities in Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
That more than €1.8 million project kicked off June 1, 2018 and ran until May 31, 2021. It was implemented by partnerships of local governments, NGOs and Jewish communities in the EU’s Danube Region — an area stretching along the river and its hinterland, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea.
1 comment on “We Highlight the JEWELS TOUR, an EU-funded project on the tourism potential of Jewish cultural heritage that is under way in six partner countries”
Learn more about the German citizens born after WWII who researched the Jews of their local communities and published articles, built museums, erected memorials and developed classroom lessons about them. This was their way of voluntarily taking responsibility for the scourge of the Holocaust perpetrated by an earlier generation. It’s called the German remembrance movement. The new book “Unsettled Ground: Reflections on Germany’s Attempts to Make Amends” by Jeffrey L. Katz looks closely at this movement’s strengths and challenges.
http://Www.JeffreyKatzAuthor.com