Vilnius presentation of the new book by Dr. Richard Freund, the Maurice Greenberg Professor of Jewish History at the University of Hartford in Connecticut: The Archaeology of the Holocaust: Vilna, Rhodes, and Escape Tunnels.
Click to read more about the book
Just weeks after the Jewish cemetery in Tarnow was rededicated after a more than two-year restoration, vandals spray-painted antisemitic graffiti on the newly repaired wall next to the entrance gate.
It read: “Jews eat children Jadowniki eats Jews”. (Jadowniki is a nearby village.)
The Committee for the Protection of Jewish Heritage in Tarnow has organized a clean-up for Monday morning July 22, in order to paint over the slogans.
“We believe that the majority of Tarnów residents, like us,… oppose all forms of hooliganism, boorishness, anti-Semitism, or any discrimination and humiliation of other people, their origin, appearance, sex, age, etc.,” it said, announcing the initiative. “Let us show that in our city, there is no place for this type of acts of hooliganism.”
Volunteers are asked to bring paint brushes and rollers, if they have them. Otherwise they will be provided.
Read our article about the rededication of the cemetery
Volunteer clean up of the Jewish cemetery, which dates back to the 16th century
Dedication of a memorial at the Jewish cemetery in the village. It is composed of broken gravestones whose fragments have been partially fitted together to form (in part) their stones.
JHE Director Ruth Ellen Gruber gives the keynote talk on the importance of reclaiming history, at a two-day conference on synagogues in Silesia, held ahead of the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
An international conference for educators:
“Listening to lectures and taking part in workshops will offer the conference participants an opportunity to acquaint themselves well with various aspects of the culture of Jews residing in Poland. We will talk about Yiddish literature and art, Jewish school system and the stories of Jewish women. We will also learn how to decipher the traces of Jewish communities by visiting Jewish cemeteries. We will focus on the methods of teaching multiculturalism and diversity without stereotyping. We will debate on how to talk about Polish-Jewish history without mythologizing or sugar-coating the past.”
Second day of a two-day conference on the protection and care of Jewish cemeteries in Poland.
Participants include representatives of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Association of Polish Cities, Silesian Conservator, for the Rabbinical Commission on cemeteries, NGOs, and others.
Topics include:
1. Polish legal issues and the protection of Jewish cemeteries.
2. What action to protect Jewish cemeteries should be taken by state authorities, local government, Jewish communities and NGOs?
3. What role should non-governmental organizations play in the care of Jewish cemeteries?
4. How can the progressive degradation of these place be stopped?
5. What activities in this area are taken in other European countries?
6. How to document Jewish cemeteries and keep them in the collective memory?
Organizers say the aim is primarily to exchange knowledge and experiences with the wider care of Jewish cemeteries, and ultimately the development of a catalog of good practices, which could be a compendium of knowledge about the possibilities and ways to protect Jewish cemeteries in Poland. They would like to subsequently help institutions possessing the right tools and resources, but lacking the knowledge and skills to systematically and effectively take care of Jewish cemeteries.
Marking the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the Great Synagogue in Oswiecim, a memorial park will be dedicated on its site.
The site was long an empty lot, with in recent years signage describing the site.
The park is a project of the Auschwitz Jewish Center and has been supported by the town of Oświęcim as well as institutional and private donors from Poland and elsewhere.
Archaeological excavations in 2004 discovered candlesticks from the synagogue as well as the Eternal Light – Ner Tamid.
The memorial will include a replica of the candelabra (the original is displayed in the AJC’s museum) as well as a structure containing historic photographs of the synagogue.
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