Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Apr
25
Sun
Warsaw Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
Apr 25 @ 11:00 – 16:00
Warsaw Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Warsaw Jewish Cemetery | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

Volunteer cleanup action of the Okopowa st Jewish cemetery

 

The Preservation of Jewish Monuments in Eastern Europe @ Online Zoom event
Apr 25 @ 16:00 – 17:00
The Preservation of Jewish Monuments in Eastern Europe @ Online Zoom event

A series of three online talks by Dr. Samuel D. Gruber, president of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments. Part of the Orange County Jewish Community Scholar Program.

Click here to register and find more details

Seventy-five years after the Holocaust, and thirty years after the fall of Communism, how is the Jewish past being preserved and presented in Eastern Europe? In these three illustrated lectures Dr. Samuel Gruber reviews efforts in Eastern Europe by government and private agencies, institutions, and organizations to document, protect, conserve, and maintain Jewish historic and religious sites, especially synagogues, cemeteries, and Holocaust-related sites.  In the decades since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the quantity and quality of this work keeps growing, as well as increased engagement Jewish and non-Jewish communities, and the interest of travelers from around the world. 
Sunday April 11, 2021SAVING SYNAGOGUES – In the world of Jewish “monuments,” synagogues are the big-ticket items. There are always considerable political, financial, and technical challenges in restoring synagogues in Eastern Europe, but the biggest problem is always what will the building be used for. Does it have a Jewish use? Can it retain some Jewish identity? How can saving an old building most effectively do justice to past events and contribute to a better present and future. This talk will look at a range of projects big and small – many of which the speaker has been actively involved – including the restoration of the beautiful Tempel Synagogue in Krakow, Poland and synagogues in Boskovice (Czech Republic), and Plovdiv (Bulgaria). We’ll visit a range of projects in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.  Some have been successful, some not.
Sunday April 18, 2021PRESERVING CEMETERIES – For Jews, cemeteries are inviolable sacred sites, but Nazi and Communist regimes carried out policies that ruined Jewish cemeteries and often stripped them entirely of their gravestones and even despoiled graves. For decades, the only Jewish cemetery in Eastern Europe that was well known was the Old Cemetery in Prague. Since 1990 enormous strides have been taken in the identification and documentation of thousands Jewish cemeteries in Central and Eastern Europe. Some of these have often stunningly beautiful remaining matzevot (gravestones), but many have been stripped of their stones and have even been paved or built over. Beginning in 1991, as Research Director the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Aboard, Dr. Gruber was a leader in the identification and documentation of thousands of these sites. Since then efforts to protect and preserve these sites have been erratic, but there have been hundreds of successful interventions – ranging from simple cleaning of sites by local school and church groups,  to full-scale restorations of walls and re-erection of gravestones and mausolea by Jewish communities, government agencies and private foundations. Today several organizations are carrying out extensive mapping, fencing and conservation projects.
Sunday April 25, 2021COMMEMORATING HOLOCAUST SITES – In a sense, every place in eastern Europe where Jews once lived but now do not should be considered a Holocaust-related site.  A goal of educators and activists in many countries has been to bring back the history of Jews in a place especially when those communities were irrevocably destroyed. This talk will focus on the commemoration of those destroyed communities and their murdered members and how the places of their suffering – ghettos, deportation centers, concentration, labor and death camps, and mass grave sites are being remembered and identified. Dr. Gruber will discuss key examples of the memorialization process a Holocaust-related sites in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
May
9
Sun
Cemetery clean-up — Okopowa st Jewish cemetery Warsaw @ Jewish cemetery Warsaw
May 9 @ 11:00 – 16:00
Cemetery clean-up -- Okopowa st Jewish cemetery Warsaw @ Jewish cemetery Warsaw | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

Another of the regular volunteer Jewish cemetery clean-ups at the Okopowa st. Jewish cemetery in Warsaw.

Turn up ready to work — the weather forecast is good!

 

 

 

 

May
11
Tue
Moreshet seminar – adaptive reuse of Jewish religious properties @ Online webinar
May 11 @ 18:00 – May 12 @ 19:30
Moreshet seminar - adaptive reuse of Jewish religious properties @ Online webinar

 

A 1-1/2 day seminar of the Moreshet project, an EU-funded Jewish heritage project linking half a dozen towns and cities in Europe.

Theme of the seminar (which barring COVID would have taken place in Mantova, Italy) is  “Adapt to Reuse”, dealing with aspects related to recovering and reusing of Jewish religious properties. The online event will give the opportunity, through case studies, to learn and identify the possibilities, outline problems and evaluate solutions in the area of Jewish heritage Architecture.

(Our picture shows a Jewish museum in a former synagogue in Trani, Italy.)

The opening session on Tuesday 11 May at 18:00 CET, will be introduced by a narrated concert, music by Salomone Rossi Mantovano, followed by official greetings and a keynote presentation.

The Seminar working session on Wednesday 12 May, is divided into morning and afternoon blocks. At the end of each block  a workshop discussion will be held.

The morning session will concentrate on case studies from Italy, such as: cemeteries, disused synagogues, and an archeological site. The second session will be dedicated to case studies from outside Italy.

Click here to see the program

 

May
16
Sun
Warsaw Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
May 16 @ 11:00 – 17:00
Warsaw Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Warsaw Jewish Cemetery | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

The latest in the regular volunteer clean up initiatives at the Okopowa st. Jewish cemetery.

 

 

May
21
Fri
Jewish cemetery clean up in Poland @ Jewish cemetery Mielec
May 21 @ 10:00 – 16:00

Volunteers are welcome for a clean-up session at the Jewish cemetery. People who physically cannot work are also invited, and will be able to learn about the place and local Jewish history.

Bring rakes and other equipment if you like.

 
May
23
Sun
Jewish cemetery cleanup in Tallya, Hungary @ Jewish cemetery Tallya
May 23 – May 24 all-day
Jewish cemetery cleanup in Tallya, Hungary @ Jewish cemetery Tallya | Tállya | Hungary

Budapest-based researcher and activist Bence Illyés and his “Magyarországi Haszid Zarándoklatokért” Foundation are organizing a two-day clean-up action at the Jewish cemetery in Tállya, eastern Hungary.

The action will be carried-out under the religious supervision of Mazsihisz, the umbrella organization of the Hungarian Neolog Jewish communities.

All those interested in participating can write to: csodakvandorai@gmail.com

Click here to see more about the project (and donate)

May
30
Sun
Jewish cemetery clean up @ Okopowa st Jewish cemetery
May 30 @ 11:00 – 17:00
Jewish cemetery clean up @ Okopowa st Jewish cemetery | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

The latest of the regular volunteer clean up sessions at the vast Okopowa st Jewish cemetery. Come one, come all!

Jun
2
Wed
The Architecture of Greek Synagogues @ Online Zoom event
Jun 2 @ 19:00 – 20:15
Jun
4
Fri
Rymanów Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Jewish cemetery Rymanów
Jun 4 @ 10:00 – 13:00
Rymanów Jewish cemetery cleanup @ Jewish cemetery Rymanów | Rymanów | Podkarpackie | Poland

The clean-up will be carried out with the participation of local scouts and representatives of the Municipality of Rymanów, as well as residents of the city, friends of the Rejwach Foundation and Leaders of Dialogue from Podkarpacie Region.

Volunteers welcome!

The organizers of the action are: FODZ (Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland), the Rejwach Foundation and Leaders of Dialogue. 

 

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