Part 1 or 2 webinars being held by The Foundation for Jewish Heritage, exploring how and to what extent Jewish cemeteries can and are currently being used as visitor destinations across Europe.
The webinars are designed for those working in tour guiding, for heritage institutions, or as part of genealogical research services.
Speakers from central and eastern Europe will share their experiences and visions about engaging visitors with these sites. There will be opportunities to share good practice and effective ways of marketing Jewish heritage to a broader range of visitors, to discuss successful promotion of historic Jewish cemeteries by tour guides, and to think what different audiences might want from their encounters with historic Jewish cemeteries.
Speakers include: Olga Skobeeva, Project co-ordinator at the NGO ‘Eko-Kultura’ in Chernivtsi Ukraine; Rabbi Chaim Wiener from Jewish Journeys Ltd on the tours he provides of Jewish interest to various destinations in Europe, and Dr Krisztina Frauhammer, the thematic expert of project REDISCOVER who will present on the development of the Szeged Jewish route, accompanying app and an onsite guided cemetery tour.
There will be a key-note address by Dr Paul Darby with findings from his report ‘Jewish Cemeteries as Visitor Destinations – Exploring Current Practices, Current Challenges and sustainable futures in seven European Countries.’
The second in a two-part webinar series hosted by The Foundation for Jewish Heritage for those leading work with Jewish heritage, heritage industry experts and an invited audience.
The webinar explores how and to what extent Jewish cemeteries are currently being used as visitor destinations across seven countries in Europe, and how current initiatives might contribute to the sustaining and promotion of more historic Jewish cemeteries. Speakers from across central and eastern Europe will share their experiences and visions about engaging visitors with these sites which are integral to the European experience, and the common heritage of all Europeans. Speakers include: Marta Mackowiak who will discuss a new project related to Jews from Lower Silesia and her collaboration with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Dušan Vrban from the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe, who will share his findings on what Europe’s cemeteries offer as heritage destinations and Monika Göttler, who will speak on the Bavarian City of Regensburg’s role as a REDISCOVER partner and the benefits from this European cooperation for their local work on valorization of their Jewish heritage and the development of Jewish cultural heritage-based products and touristic services that have come out of this partnership.tour.
It will begin with an introduction by the Foundation for Jewish Heritage Chair Dame Helen Hyde followed by a key-note address by Dr Paul Darby with findings from his report ‘Jewish Cemeteries as Visitor Destinations – Exploring Current Practices, Current Challenges and sustainable futures in seven European Countries.’ This report has involved consultation with key stakeholders, market analysis, documenting case studies, and exploring the use of new products and digital technologies.
A Zoom webinar in English introducing the current temporary exhibition at MEIS — the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah in Ferrara— Houses of Life; Synagogues and Jewish Cemeteries in Italy.
The exhibition mainly features plans and architectural drawings of synagogues, as well as gravestones, tombs, and other architecture features, through the ages.
A historic ark and other Judaica are also featured.
Speakers in the webinar include the two curators of the exhibition, Andrea Morpurgo and MEIS director Amadeo Spagnoletto, as well as Dr. Jessica Del Russo.
Click here to receive the Zoom link
The Concluding Conference of the “Preserving Jewish Cemeteries” EU co-funded grant. This conference concludes an 18 month project undertaken jointly by the ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative, Centropa and the Foundation for Jewish Heritage which has focused on preserving Jewish cemeteries in seven European countries. Efforts have involved raising awareness in local communities, implementing educational projects, and integrating Jewish cemeteries into the school curriculum.
Click here to find the program and link to register for online access
Volunteer to help clean up the old Jewish cemetery in Gliwice
Inauguration of the restored synagogue on the island of Kos.
A new Ark and Bimah and other interior furnishings have been installed and — after decades out of its original use — the building will be rededicated as an active house of Jewish worship.
The Kos synagogue was built in the mid-1930s to replace an older synagogue that was destroyed in an earthquake in April 1933. It was abandoned after the near-total destruction of the circa 120 member Jewish community during the Holocaust, and then was purchased by the Municipality around 1984 and used as a local cultural centre.
The restoration of the long-ruined synagogue in Vidin, Bulgaria, a historic town overlooking the Danube, has been completed and the building will be rededicated Sept. 4.
The long-stalled, long-awaited restoration of the long-derelict synagogue in Vidin begun in 2021 after many delays. The building will become a multipurpose cultural center dedicated to the Vidin-born Jewish artist Jules Pascin, to include a museum, library, meeting hall, park area, and spaces for prayer and for the commemoration of the Holocaust.
Photo: Svetoslav Tsvetanov/Radio Vidin
Barnet Libraries presents: The History and Residents of Willesden Jewish Cemetery.
The cemetery is a designated Heritage Site and celebrated its 150th anniversary in June this year.
Many of the people who are buried there were prominent in the fields of industry, commerce, science and the arts.
It is hoped that this talk will be a catalyst to people visiting the grounds and seeing the work delivered by the cemetery’s small team and dedicated volunteers.
More than 80 years ago, the headstones that once stood in the Brest-Litovsk Jewish cemetery, in the south of Belarus, were desecrated and used for other purposes. More than 1200 headstones have been discovered over the last 20 years. They will be used to create a stunning memorial.
The Together Plan’s January 14th event will focus on this project.
How did the cemetery disappear?
What happened to the matzevot?
How did The Together Plan become involved?
What has been done so far and what are the plans for the future?
Where are the 1249 salvaged headstones at the moment?
How does this memorial play a pivotal role in Jewish history?
How will this support the functioning Jewish community in Brest today?
Click here to find the link to register
USA 11:00 PT / 14:00 ET / UK 19:00 / Israel 21:00
The Centre for Religion and Heritage of the University of Groningen will host a half-day public symposium to launch the Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe. This event will also inaugurate a new European project on minority religious heritage.
The event takes place in person and also online. Click HERE to register
The organizers state:
The Handbook provides a state-of-the-art guide by leading international scholars, policy makers and heritage practitioners. With 46 chapters, we cannot address all the contributions, thus we have chosen to concentrate on those which examine how religious communities are using their rich heritage to make new meanings for themselves in Europe. Our focus will be on Jewish, Muslim and Christian heritage. We want to think together about the challenges facing these communities, as they grapple with being Jewish or Muslim minorities in a historically Christian landscape, or with being a minority of practicing Christians in the highly secularized society, such as that of Northern Netherlands. Reflecting on these questions together with our Handbook authors will aid the start of a new project in the Erasmus Plus program called European Pathways to Minority Religious Heritage (Miretage). Over three years we are exploring how minority religious heritage can be taught as a co-creative activity between heritage institutions, creative organizations and minority communities. On hand to participate in the symposium are partners from Storytelling Center Amsterdam, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Moslim Archief Rotterdam, KU Leuven, Future for Religious
Click here to see the program for the January 23 event
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