Jewish Heritage Europe

ESJF gets €800,000 EU Grant to Map, Survey 1,500 Jewish Cemeteries

The European Union has awarded a grant of €800,000 to the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative (ESJF) to map and survey at least 1,500 Jewish cemeteries in five countries in eastern, east-central, and south-eastern Europe: Greece, Moldova, Slovakia, Lithuania and Ukraine. … continue reading →

Poland reminder: don’t miss Jewish Warsaw web site, an in-depth multi-media exploration of the city for visitors and armchair travelers

If you’re interested in Jewish history and heritage in Warsaw, a good place to start is the Jewish Warsaw web site created by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Jewish Warsaw is a richly detailed, multimedia online … continue reading →

Ukraine: ESJF Survey on Jewish cemeteries in Volhyn available online

  The ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries initiative has published online its detailed survey of Jewish cemeteries in the modern Volhyn region of Ukraine, carried out in October 2018. During the preparation of the ESJF expedition, 58 Jewish cemeteries were discovered … continue reading →

On Jewish gravestones and the stone-carvers who made them: a stone-carver’s thoughts on tradition and symbolism

In Ashkenazi Eastern Europe the carved epitaphs and wealth of carved decoration on Jewish gravestones can be richly sculptural as well as symbolic. Unfortunately, little is known about the stone-carvers who created these memorials. We crosspost here an (updated) article … continue reading →

Romania: More Hanukkah cheer as new Jewish Museum opens in restored Teleki synagogue in Oradea

With a celebratory Hanukkah event, the new Jewish museum in Oradea (Nagyvarad), Romania was opened in the city’s recently restored Primariei (Teleki) Street (Hinech Neorim) synagogue. The museum, which includes sections on local Jewish history and on the Holocaust, will … continue reading →