Jewish Heritage Europe

Calendar

Jun
25
Fri
Krakow Jewish Culture Festival @ Online event also on-site
Jun 25 – Jul 4 all-day
Krakow Jewish Culture Festival @ Online event also on-site | Kraków | Małopolskie | Poland

The 30th Krakow Jewish Culture Festival will take place on-site and also on-line.

Live-streamed events can be accessed on the new website: 30.jewishfestival.pl

They include the events held in the JCF Tent, concerts organized in the Museum of Urban Engineering, Collegium Maius and the Tempel synagogue.

After the end of the live stream, they will be able to be accessed in the event archives.

Click here to see the Festival program

Jul
1
Thu
Polish Jewish cemeteries webinar @ Online webinar
Jul 1 @ 16:00 – 18:00
Polish Jewish cemeteries webinar @ Online webinar

The Task Ahead: a two-hour webinar on preserving Jewish cemeteries in Poland, to be held online July 1.

Confirmed keynote speakers include :

  • Michał Laszczkowski, President of the Coalition of Guardians of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland
  • Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress

The webinar is sponsored by the Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland, The Matzevah Foundation, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, the World Jewish Restitution Organization, and the Chief Rabbinate of Poland.

It is a follow-up to a webinar held in August 2020.

Click for the conference web page, with registration form

Aug
24
Tue
The Great Synagogue of Vilnius – Finds from the Past and a Vision for the Future @ Both at Lithuanian Jewish Community Center and on Facebook
Aug 24 @ 18:00 – 19:00
The Great Synagogue of Vilnius – Finds from the Past and a Vision for the Future @ Both at Lithuanian Jewish Community Center and on Facebook | Vilnius | Vilniaus apskritis | Lithuania
Lecture by Dr. Jon Seligman – Archaeologist and the Director of the Excavations, Surveys and Research Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Since August 9 team of archaeologists with led by Dr. Seligman continues the works of previous excavation seasons of Vilnius Great Synagogue and this August plan to fully expose the remainder of the Bimah, the Torah Ark/Aron Kodesh, the floor and the southeastern and northwestern walls of the synagogue.

The lecture will be in English.

Place: Lithuanian Jewish community, Pylimo str. 4., III floor.

The project is partially financed by the Good Will Foundation.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/i-the-great-synagogue-of-vilni/267447701552421/

Aug
29
Sun
“Restoring the Memory of Jewish Communities of Upper Silesia” @ online
Aug 29 @ 19:00 – 20:00
“Restoring the Memory of Jewish Communities of Upper Silesia” @ online
“RESTORING THE MEMORY OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF UPPER SILESIA”
 
31 year old Sławek Pastuszka is the grandchild of two Holocaust survivors. He is the new head of the Katowice Chevrah Kadisha (burial society). Sławek is doctoral student in Judaic Studies at Jagiellonian University, a cemetery guardian/preservationist and a prolific author of books and articles on Jewish history and Jewish cemeteries.
 
Most recently, Sławek was instrumental in retrieving dozens of tombstones that were vandalized many years ago from the Sosnowiec cemetery. The talk will be in English.
Here is the Zoom link:
Meeting ID: 892 5998 5966
Passcode: HLK4Wh
Sep
25
Sat
Exhibit of rescued matzevot fragments @ Huta Bedzin
Sep 25 @ 11:00 – 17:00
Exhibit of rescued matzevot fragments @ Huta Bedzin | Będzin | Śląskie | Poland

More than 1,000 fragments of Jewish headstones that the Communist authorities removed in the 1960s from the Jewish cemetery on Zagorska Street and used to build a railway station platform will be exhibited to the public.

Excavations have been going on for six months to recover them, and they will eventually used to create a memorial.

At 5 pm, at the Muzeum Cafe Jerozolima, there will be a presentation about the history of the cemetery.

 

Nov
22
Mon
Synagogues: Historic Buildings – on their cultural and educational potential @ online
Nov 22 @ 19:00 – 20:00
Synagogues: Historic Buildings – on their cultural and educational potential @ online

A conversation with Helise Lieberman (Executive Director of the Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning Foundation ) and Dr. Glenn Kurtz (author of Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film). 

The Webinar is part of the Synagogues in Poland project of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

 

 

Register here — https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7lcg5DifQNWwuVVd2gXKLQ

 

 

Nov
27
Sat
Extermination – Great Synagogue Grodno @ online - zoom, and on-site
Nov 27 @ 18:00 – 20:30
Extermination - Great Synagogue Grodno @ online - zoom, and on-site | Vilnius | Vilniaus apskritis | Lithuania

European Humanities University (EHU) and the Center for Belarusian Community and Culture in Vilnius will host a premiere presentation of “Extermination” — an audiovisual installation about the Great Synagogue of Grodno, which was constructed in the 16th century and was rebuilt many times after devastating fires. 

Kseniya Shtalenkova (lecturer in the Academic Department of Humanities and Arts at EHU, Philosophy PhD candidate) is the project curator and Viktoryia Bahdanovich (fourth-year student of the BA program in Visual Design) is the project production designer and executive producer.

 The “Extermination” audiovisual installation is a monologue on the history of the place as well as an individual experience of a person in time and space.

The installation has been created as a part of the project on “Preservation and Actualization of Former Synagogues in Belarus for the Benefit of Local Communities” by Stsiapan Stureika, Professor of Humanities and Arts at EHU. Project research conducted for the work on the installation was conducted with the participation of EHU students.

The presentation will be delivered in Russian with subtitles in English. 

Register by November 26.

Click here to register on Zoom (or for in-person attendance)

The event will be also streamed online via EHU’s Facebook page.

NOTE: you can attend the event physically at the Belarusian House (Vilniaus g. 20) by pre-registration at the same link to register on Zoom

Dec
7
Tue
Webinar – preservation, prospects, challenges, approaches to Jewish heritage @ online
Dec 7 @ 19:00 – 20:00
Webinar - preservation, prospects, challenges, approaches to Jewish heritage @ online

Join JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber; the architect, artist and designer, Natalia Romik; the director of the Okopowa Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Witold Wrzosiński; and the CEO of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ) Piotr Puchta for a wide-ranging Webinar centering on Jewish heritage preservation, future prospects, challenges, and possible approaches.

This Webinar is the third and final Webinar in a series that has been part of the project “Virtual Connections to Material Jewish Heritage in Poland” carried out by FODZ,  aimed at fostering public awareness of synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish built heritage via digital models and detailed virtual tours of selected buildings.

Please register for the webinar here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_YsMCMndzQ1SbllwVPi0X_A

Click to access the project web site and the virtual tours of selected Jewish historical sites in Kraśnik, Łęczna, ŁancutOlsztyn, OrlaPrzysucha, Sejny, and Zamość

 

May
23
Mon
5th World Litvak Congress @ various
May 23 – May 26 all-day
5th World Litvak Congress @ various | Lithuania

A gathering of Lithuanian Jews and descendants, which includes an academic conference, a cultural fest, guided tours to Jewish heritage in several towns and cities around the country — Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Šeduva, Pakruojis — and more.

Click here to see the full program

Pre-registration is required by filling out the following form:

https://forms.gle/VJa9nMHaHjH4t5Lf6

Bridging Divides. Rupture and Continuity in Polish Jewish History @ Jewish Historical Institute Warsaw
May 23 – May 26 all-day
Bridging Divides. Rupture and Continuity in Polish Jewish History @ Jewish Historical Institute Warsaw | Warszawa | Mazowieckie | Poland

Bridging Divides. Rupture and Continuity in Polish Jewish History

In Honor of the 80th anniversary of the “Aktion Reinhard” and the 75th anniversary of the Jewish Historical Institute

Watch the conference on YouTube:

Opening ceremony: https://youtu.be/J3Hx6eh6cng

Day 2: https://youtu.be/D29zQRijkqM

Day 3: https://youtu.be/Xyonp03JUfk

Closing discussion: https://youtu.be/Gk0pqyRJIo0

 

PROGRAM

MONDAY, May 23rd

Opening – 17:00 CET

Welcome – Glenn Dynner, Monika Krawczyk, Katarzyna Person

Opening keynote – Samuel Kassow

TUESDAY, May 24th

Session 1 – 9:00 – 10:30 CET

Evolving Traditions: Polish Jewish Spirituality Chair and Respondent: Glenn Dynner

Alison B. Curry (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

The Last Honor: Jewish Ritual and the Cemetery in the Warsaw Region Between the Interwar Period and the Second World War

Samuel Glauber-Zimra (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

The Séance in Polish Jewish Life: A Case Study of Rupture and Continuity

Gabriella Licskó (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Alexander Hasidism before and after the Holocaust

 

Session 2 – 10:45 – 12:15 CET

Women in Polish Jewish Religious Life Chair and Respondent: Daniel Reiser

Tzipora Weinberg (New York University)

Still Small Voices: Female Prevalence in Polish Rabbinic Literature, 1900-1945

Elly Moseson (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

Mar’in bishin: The Sexual Nightmare of Eastern European Jewish Women

Glenn Dynner (Sarah Lawrence College)

The Polish Hasidah: Beyond Masculine Definitions of Hasidism Partners: Part of the program:

Session 3 – 13:15 – 14:45 CET

Polish Jewry in Literature and Film Chair and Respondent: Karolina Szymaniak

Daniel Bouskila (Yeshiva University)

Asonovski, Szibucz and Buczacz: SY Agnon’s Theological Meditations on the Plight of Eastern European Jewry

Sarah Ellen Zarrow (Western Washington University)

Jewish Life in Poland as Documented on Film: Continuities and Ruptures

Aleksandra Kremer (Harvard University)

Holocaust Poems in Polish-Language Journals before 1950

 

Session 4 – 15:00 – 16:00 CET

Panel on Archives and Museums Chair and Respondent: Stephen Naron

Jonathan Brent (Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

The oldest Jewish archival institution

Monika Krawczyk (Director of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute)

Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw: ‘Mother’ of All Jewish Museums in Poland

Albert Stankowski (Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum)

Challenges for New Warsaw Ghetto Museum

Zygmunt Stępiński (Director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews)

POLIN Museum – Shrine for History of Polish Jews

 

16:15 CET – Guided tour of the Jewish Historical Institute’s permanent exhibition: What we were unable to shout out to the world

 

19:30 CET – Screening of Who Will Write Our History in Kino Muranów

WEDNESDAY, May 25th

Session 1 – 9:00 – 11:00 CET

Writing the Polish Jewish Self Chair and Respondent: Francois Guesnet

Maria Ferenc (Jewish Historical Institute) Partners: Part of the program:

 

Life and what comes after. Study of biography and memory of Mordechai Anielewicz as a challenge to historiographical divides

Yaron Nir Freisager (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Josef Zelkowicz and the Circle of Intellectuals in the Lodz Ghetto

Lidia Zessin-Jurek (Czech Academy of Sciences)

“Three times a refugee” – exile as a leading motif in the memoirs of Polish Jews

Ula Madej-Krupitski (McGill University)

Polish Jewish émigrés and the ‘old country’

 

Session 2 – 10:45 – 12:45 CET

Reframing Antisemitism and the Holocaust Chair and Respondent: Katarzyna Person

Ania Switzer (University of British Columbia)

Antisemitism as a cultural code in Poland

Jan Burzlaff (Harvard University)

Surviving as a Social Process

Alicja Podbielska (Yale University)

“Our feelings toward Jews have not changed”: Polish underground press on help and rescue

Lea Ganor (Bar-Ilan University)

Life Stories of Holocaust Survivors with Polish and European roots who served as Air Crew Members in the Israeli Air Force

 

Session 3 – 13:45 – 14:45 CET

Polish Jewish Philanthropic Networks Chair and Respondent: Anna Cichopek-Gajraj

Karolina Kołpak (Yale University)

The history of the Warsaw Kolonie Letnie Society, 1882-1939

Samir Saadi (University of Warsaw)

The HIAS in Poland in the II Republic and after the Holocaust (until 1949): comparative approach

Dikla Yogev (University of Toronto)

The Bais Yaakov Network – A Case Study of the Multiple Dimensions of Orthodox Community

 

Session 4 – 15:00 – 16:15 CET

Presentation on Jewish Historical Institute’s resources Chair and respondent: Andrzej Żbikowski Partners: Part of the program: Library – Marzena Zawanowska

Heritage Documentation Department – Alicja Mroczkowska

Archive – Michał Czajka

Art Department – Michał Krasicki

 

16:30 CET – Keynote by Naomi Seidman

 

19:00 CET – Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble outdoor concert in Krasiński Garden

The Songs from Testimonies project collects and records songs and poems discovered in the accounts found in the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. The musician-in-residence, Zisl Slepovitch, took the songs, conducted research about their origins, then arranged and recorded versions with his ensemble, featuring Sashe Lurje.

The performers:

Joshua Camp – accordion, piano, additional vocals

Dmitry Ishenko – contrabass, additional vocals

Craig Judelman – violin, additional vocals

Sasha Lurje – leading vocals

D. Zisl Slepovitch – composer, clarinet, vocals

THURSDAY, May 26th

Guided tour of Jewish Warsaw – 9:00 CET

The overwhelming presence of the Warsaw Ghetto

Guide: Olga Szymańska, Education Department

 

Closing of the Conference – 11:30 CET

Concluding Remarks and State of the Field discussion

Comments are closed.