European Routes of Jewish Heritage Incubator — From Warsaw to Lublin
Since Monday, the AEPJ routes managers continue to work on different key aspects of the development of the European Jewish Heritage Route through the Incubator.
Tuesday morning’s sessions were dedicated to a new key aspect — sustainability on the European Jewish Heritage Route. In this framework, two workshops have been developed, one led by Marc Francesch, Project manager of the project, in which AEPJ members have reflected together on the key values that our route promotes. Then, AEPJ member Anke Biedenkapp led a participatory session, where managers have established practical objectives to implement in the routes, as well as in AEPJ meetings related to sustainability. During the afternoon, the team headed to Lublin, with a stop first in Kazimierz Dolny, which constitutes part of the Shtetls route.
After spending two days in Warsaw, the team headed to Lublin, home of AEPJ partners and developers of the shtetl route, Grodzka Gate, to focus on the narrative aspect of the Routes project. Thus, the route managers had the opportunity to visit their headquarters, including the exhibition “Memory of the Place,” a guided tour of the Jewish quarter of Lublin, as well as a visit to the printing house project “House of Words,” which offers a unique immersive experience of the role of printing in the Yiddish world, through the resistance during the Second World War, as well as in the period of the Polish People’s Republic, where printing played a key role in the democratic movement, acting so as to avoid the censorship established by the regime.
On the other hand, two workshops were held on Wednesday with participants. In the morning session, led by project manager of the European Jewish Heritage Route Marc Francesch, the route managers discussed and reflected on the criteria that should be linked to the participation of route projects at the European level. Many topics, ideas and proposals emerged from the workshop, which undoubtedly represent a unique opportunity to set a strategic direction in the development of the project in a cooperative way. On Wednesday afternoon, the workshop was dedicated to exploring the hyperlinks between the different routes, with the aim of creating connections, opportunities for collaboration, as well as establishing a richer narrative across the different route projects.
As part of their participation in the Incubator, route managers are staying in a hotel that used to function as the great Yeshiva Chochmei Lublin. Participants had the opportunity to visit their museum — undoubtedly a place inspiring dialogue and study.
