Poland -- Awards for Preserving Jewish Heritage

Award ceremony at Galicia Jewish Museum. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Michael Traison writes in Ha'aretz on the wonderful and important initiative he founded in 1998 -- the presentation of awards by the Israeli embassy to non-Jewish Poles who preserve Jewish heritage and culture. This year, in addition to the usual ceremony in Krakow at the Festival of Jewish Culture, there will be a ceremony in Warsaw. I have posted about this ceremony and the people involved in the past, including HERE.

Traison calls the honorees "Polish heroes."

That such acknowledgment comes from the Embassy of the Jewish state and is presented personally by its ambassador, is particularly meaningful and important. The ceremonies are followed by a luncheon which is co-sponsored through the generosity of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, an organization responsible for the reclamation and preservation of much of the Jewish heritage sites in Poland, as well as programs of education and information promoting better understanding between Poles and Jews.

Year after year, the program has depended upon the genius and charm of one of Poland's leading historians, Jan Jagielski of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

Jagielski reviews all nominations of individuals and projects to be awarded diplomas and contributes one of the most critical parts of the extended ceremony preparations.

But he is in good company, working among many others who support the ceremonies and the honor luncheon, including the Galicja Museum in Krakow, where the ceremonies have been held in recent years; Krakow's Eden Hotel, which has assisted with logistics and catering, and the JCC of Krakow which, over the last few years, has generously provides a venue for the luncheon.

As the initiator and founder of this program, I feel the most important individuals responsible for these ceremonies are, of course, the honorees themselves whose work gives us inspiration and enables us to tell the true story of the modern Republic of Poland, its people and the nature of its society.

See full article HERE

Ukraine -- L'viv Jewish History Design Competition Winning Designs Viewable Online

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The winning designs -- and all the other entries -- in the competition held in L'viv, Ukraine last year to mark three key sites of Jewish history in the city are now viewable online.

I was on the international Jury for the competition, and I described some of the process in a blog post here last December. Our brief was to consider some 70 designs sent in  from 14 different countries for projects marking three key sites, taking into consideration the following stated criteria:

The competition has two distinct, but interconnected purposes. First, the competiton seeks to respond to the growing awareness of Lviv's multi-ethnic past by contributing to the rediscovery of the city's Jewish history and heritage through creating public spaces dedicated to the city's historic Jewish community. Secondly, the competition also seeks ways to re-design these three open public spaces in such as manner as to improve the quality of life for the contemporary inhabitants and visitors of Lviv.

All the entries were judged anonymously -- we had no idea where they were from or who were the designers.

See all the designs for the Synagogue Square site -- the empty space in the heart of the downtown Jewish quarter where three now destroyed synagogues once stood -- by clicking HERE.

The winning design for the Synagogue Square site was by Franz Reschke, Paul Reschke, Frederik Springer Germany, based in Berlin, Germany.

See all the designs for the Besojlam Memorial Park, or Jewish cemetery, site by clicking HERE.

The first prize went to a design by Israeli designer and landscape architect Ronit Lambrozo. You can see that HERE.

See all the designs submitted for the site of the Janivski death and labor camp memorial by clicking HERE.

The first prize went to a dramatic but understated design by Ming-Yu Ho, Ceanatha La Grange, Wei Huang of Irvine, California.