A conference looking at the handling of Jewish cemeteries on both sides of the border between Germany and Poland — both in communist East Germany and Poland after WW2 and since 1989 in post-reunification Germany and post-communist Poland. Register by November 2.
Program
Welcome: Dr. Peter Bahl, State Historical Association for the Mark Brandenburg eV, and Dr. Magdalena Gebala, German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe eV
Introductory presentation On the situation of the Jewish cemeteries in the Soviet Zone and the GDR, Dr. Monika Schmidt, Berlin
Presentation of the project Jewish cemeteries in Poland in the areas of the former province of Brandenburg, Dr. Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach and Dr. des. Anke Geißler-Grünberg, both Frankfurt (Oder)
Documentary film Jewish cemeteries in Poland , director: Dietmar Barsig, 2009, 4:05 min., Broadcast in Kulturzeit on November 18, 2009; with the kind permission of ZDF
Followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach, Dr. des. Anke Geißler-Grünberg, Dr. Monika Schmidt and Andrzej Kirmiel, director of the Museum of the Meseritzer Land, Międzyrzecz / Meseritz
Moderation: Dr. Peter Bahl
The event will be held in German and Polish and will be interpreted.
Important NOTE
Limited places. To participate in the event, a confirmed registration up to and including Tuesday, November 2, 2021 by email to ger.wei@web.de (preferred) or on the telephone number (030) 413 82 19 (with AB) is necessary. Proof of COVID vaccination is required to enter. A minimum distance of 1.5 m must be maintained. Wearing an OP or FFP2 mask is mandatory for all participants.
A cooperative event between the Chair for Monument Studies at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the Chair for Modern History (German-Jewish History) at the University of Potsdam , the State Historical Association for the Mark Brandenburg eV and the German Cultural Forum Eastern Europe eV
The picture shows: Broken tombstone in the Jewish cemetery in Drossen / Ośno Lubuskie, 2021, © Peggy Lohse
The annual conference on Jewish cultural heritage in Slovakia can be followed online at https://www.facebook.com/zidianaslovensku.
The annual Eugen Barkany prize will be awarded.
The conference aims to explore the development, role, influence and shape of virtual spaces in different forms related to contemporary European Jewry. How are digital practices related to real-life practices and spaces performed and inhabited by Europe’s Jewry? What do virtual spaces reveal about Jewish engagement with the geographical location and the idea of Europe? And, ultimately, what do virtual spaces tell us about the existence and future of a “Jewish Europe”? What do they say about transcending the borders of “Jewish Europe” and fostering membership in a global Jewish presence?
Announced keynote speakers are JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber and independent scholar Diana Pinto.
The conference is organised by the University of Gothenburg and the Parkes Institute of Southampton University.
Program:
Tuesday 3 May
09.00 – Welcome and introductions, Joachim Schlör, Maja Hultman and Klas Grinell
09.30 – Keynote: Ruth Ellen Gruber (Jewish Heritage Europe) Life after Life: Shifting Virtualities (and Realities) 20 Years after Virtually Jewish
10.45 – Break and coffee
11.15 – Panel 1: Jewish contribution to Europe – Chair: TBC
- Itai Apter (University of Haifa) – Jewish Legal-Political WWII Era Scholars in the European International Law Space of the Past and Contemporary Virtual Spaces
- Marcela Menachem Zoufalá (Charles University Prague) – TBC
- Vladimir Levin (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) – European Values, Post-Soviet States, and Jewish Heritage
12.45 – Lunch
14.00 – Panel 2: Jewish/non-Jewish Spaces in Europe (J444) – Chair: TBC
- Susanne Korbel (University of Graz) – Jewish Spaces in Vienna Today: A Relational, Hybrid Approach
- Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach (European University Viadrina) – The Legacy of German Jews in Western Poland: Jewish Cemeteries as Places Between “Jewish Space” and “Virtual Jewishness”
- Jurgita Šiaučiūnaitė-Verbickienė (Vilnius University) – The Process of Learning About the Jews and Their Heritage: Influence of Challenges in Post-Soviet Lithuania to the Contemporary Understanding of the Jewish Culture
15.30 – Break and coffee
16.00 – Panel 3: Jewish Europe from Near and Afar (J444) – Chair: TBC
- Jennifer Cowe (University of British Columbia) – Rootless Nostalgia, Yekke Identity and Intergenerational memory Curation/Creation in Mor Kaplansky’s Café Nagler
- Libby Langsner (independent researcher) – Nostalgia Networks: The Potential of Built Heritage Digitization in European American Jewish Identity Formation and Social Belonging
- Judith Vöcker (University of Leicester) – The Muranów District as a Memorial of the Former Jewish Community of Warsaw
18.00 – City walk of Jewish Gothenburg
19.00 – Tour and dinner @ Gothenburg’s Synagogue
Wednesday 4 May
09.00 – Panel 4: Virtual Heritage Spaces of Jewish Europe – Chair: TBC
- Susanne Urban (University Marburg) – Storytelling in Jewish Spaces: Creating a Bond Between Spaces, History and Present
- Kyra Schulman (University of Chicago) – Memory Space: Probing the Limits of Holocaust Memorialization Projects on Digital Versus Physical Topographies
- Kinga Frojimovics and Éva Kovács (Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies) – Tracing the Holocaust in the Kaiserstadt
10.30 – Break and coffee
11.00 – Panel 5: Digital Practices in Today’s Europe – Chair: Klas Grinell
- Tyson Herberger (University of Southeastern Norway) – Impacts of Norwegian Jewry’s Digital Turn Under Corona
- Dekel Peretz (Heidelberg University) – Searching for Belonging: Jewish-Muslim Dialogue in Virtual Spaces
- Alla Marchenko (The Polish Academy of Sciences) – Virtual Representation of Real Jews and Jewishness in Contemporary Poland
12.30 – Lunch
13.45 – Heritage Session: Jewish Spaces in Sweden – Chair: Maja Hultman
- Yael Fried (Jewish Museum in Stockholm)
- Anna Grinzweig Jacobsson and Karin Brygger (Judiska salongen)
- Lukasz Gorniok (Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden and Ivana Koutniková (Paideia – The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden/Paideia folkhögskola)
- Tom Shulevitz (Jewish Congregation of Gothenburg)
15.15 – Break and coffee
15.45 – Bus trip Gothenburg-Marstrand
17.00 – Guided tour of Marstrand
19.00 – Dinner @ Grand Tenan
21.30 – Bus trip Marstrand-Gothenburg
Thursday 5 May
09.00 – Panel 6: Being Jewish in Today’s Europe – Chair: TBC
- Katalin Tóth (Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network) – “But We Are Also Here – the Descendants of the Survivors”: Everyday Life of a Synagogue in Budapest for the Past Thirty Years
- Stanislaw Krajewski (University of Warsaw) – The Concept of De-Assimilation as a Tool to Describe Present-Day European Jews: The Example of Poland
- Phil Alexander (University of Edinburgh) – “The Most Saving Slum in Glasgow, and the Most Abandoned”: Scotland’s 20th Century Jewish Neighbourhoods as 21st Century Virtual Spaces
10.30 – Break and coffee
11.00 – Virtual Keynote: Diana Pinto (independent researcher) Jewish Spaces in a Topsy Turvy Europe
12.15 – Closing remarks by Joachim Schlör and Maja Hultman
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
BIAJS Conference 2022: “Unfolding Time: Texts – Practices – Politics”
There’s quite a bit of material on Jewish (built) heritage at this year’s conference of the British and Irish Association of Jewish Studies.
12 July 2022, 15.15-16.45 The state of Jewish tangible heritage in Ukraine: Buildings, monuments, museums and libraries
organised by: Eva Frojmovic (Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds, clsef@leeds.ac.uk)
EUGENY KOTLYAR (Associate Professor at Department of Art History of Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, eugeny.kotlyar@gmail.com):
Jewish Heritage in Independent Ukraine: Discovery, Study, Preservation and Presentation. Thirty Years of Experience and Challenges
SOFIA DYAK (Director of the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe in Lviv, website:www.lvivcenter.org, E-mail: s.dyak@lvivcenter.org):
Jewish Urban Heritage and Diversity in Lviv
TETYANA BATANOVA (Research Fellow, Acting Head of the Judaica Department of Institute of Manuscripts, V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, taniabatanova@gmail.com )
The Judaica Department at V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine: Revival, Study, and Preservation
VITALY CHERNOIVANENKO (Senior research fellow, Judaica Department; Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine; President, Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies; Chief editor, Judaica Ukrainica; E-mail: chernoivanenko@gmail.com and president@uajs.org.ua; Website: uajs.org.ua):
Ukraine’s Hebraica collections in international perspective
NADIA UFIMTSEVA (Department of History at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,nadia.ufimtseva@gmail.com)
Title: the Jewish printed books collection in the Kamianets-Podilskyi state museum and Judaica objects in Ukrainian museums.
MIA SPIRO (Glasgow) and EVA FROJMOVIC (Leeds)
Click here to see full conference program
To register securely, please visit: https://estore.kcl.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/academic-faculties/faculty-of-arts-humanities/department-of-theology-and-religious-studies/biajs-conference-unfolding-time-texts-practices-politics
The eighth annual conference dedicated to Jewish cultural heritage in Slovakia, including major projects and activities — and the people behind them.
This year, a focus will be the restoration of the synagogue in Trenčín, which is implemented with the support of the EHP Grant (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) with co-financing from the state budget of the Slovak community and resources of the Jewish community.
The conference will be available online at https://www.facebook.com/zidianaslovensku and https://tachles.tv/
Program
This international conference aims to explore the Jewish experience in Sommerfrische (Summer holiday) destinations, summer resorts, and spas, focusing on the particular urban processes that led to their emergence and the factors that transformed them into spaces of possibility in a rural or small-town context.
JHE’s Ruth Ellen Gruber will speak about “Those Who Stayed (and One Who Came Back” about Jewish cemeteries in health resort towns, focusing on Merano/Merano, Italy.
The annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies takes place this year in London.
The conference starts on the 12th of September at 18:00 at German Historical Institute and ends on the 14th of September at 16:30 in POLIN – Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
The synagogues that remained standing after World War II have facedan uncertain destiny. As abandoned buildings,they were susceptible to decay quickly and, as former buildings of worship, for legal, cultural and architectural reasons, posed a great challenge in terms of their reuse. Consequently, many synagogues simply fell into ruins, some were turned into secular buildings of various purposes, and few could have been used as houses of prayer again.
In postwar Europe, synagogue architecture was culturally categorized as an element of Jewish heritage that appeared to be isolated from the common heritage of a city or town – wherever a synagogue stood.
At first, synagogues were not considered a shared but a distinct patrimony of a place. A shift in such a state of affairs could have been observed in the last three decades that witnessed a ‘rediscovery’ of synagogues. Though one can still find abandoned synagogues in small towns, in most of the bigger municipalities, these buildings were ‘rediscovered’ as a part of local history and culture and thus became part of the common heritage. In many regions of Europe, the ‘rediscovery’ of the former synagogues led to their restoration and opening to the public, and in rare cases, to their reuse by Jewish communities.
The aim of the conference is a historicization of the processes of rediscovery in the recent past.
Conference on the role of Jewish culture and history in contemporary Europe.
The congress’ program consists of sessions, discussions and workshops aimed at exchanging good practices, discussing perspectives and challenges related to the protection and popularization of Jewish cultural heritage. Below we present the framework program of the main panel.
Click here to see details and program
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