Vestiges of Jewish cultural heritage in transborder tourism"
Although the presence of the Jewish community in the project area (Western Ukraine and Belarus, Eastern Poland) during several centuries has left lasting traces, the local sites of memory referring to the Jewish history and culture have not been sufficiently recognised to this date as an item of value in the European and local heritage.
Neither are they a focal point for tourism activities, which diminishes the region’s attractiveness in the eyes of the local community and visitors from all over Europe alike. Information is hardly accessible and trained guides are scarce. Jewish heritage objects and sites are only partially described and catalogued; there are no initiatives that would exploit the potential of digital technology. Specific problems and needs of the target groups
Low tourist attractiveness of the region stemming from the fact that the advantages of its cultural heritage, in particular Jewish heritage remain unused, which translates into the lack of tourists’ interest in the region; There are no scientific and tourism studies targeted at tourist guides, travel companies and individual travellers. Consequently, Jewish heritage sites are not included in the tourist offer; There is no integrated database containing information on the Jewish cultural heritage of the 3 countries and no communication platform either. Therefore, the topic is widely neglected by institutions that could build on it in their local and international activities related to the development of cultural tourism as well as protection and promotion of the common cultural heritage objects. There is no experience sharing either, and good practices are not exchanged. The fact that traces of multicultural heritage of the border region are actually obliterated in the mind of local communities and the urgent need to restore such knowledge is confirmed, among others by professor Omer Bartov’s research published in his book “Erased. Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine” (Princeton University, 2007), research by Inna Gerasimova, PhD from the Holocaust Foundation in Minsk (Belarus), or the Polish research by Michał Bilewicz, PhD commissioned by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. The main project objective is: Development of tourism in the region through the promotion of Jewish cultural heritage
The specific objectives of the project are:
- Increasing the new tourism products to the tourism services associated with the region’s Jewish cultural heritage
- Expanding the knowledge and skills enabling the trained tour-guides to include the region’s Jewish cultural heritage in tourism services
Project coordinator: The “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre”, 21 Grodzka St., 20-112 Lublin, Poland
Project partners in Ukraine:
Centre for Social and Business Initiatives of Yaremche (Ukraine), Yaremche, Svobody St. 266, 78500 Ukraine | www.csbi.org.ua, tel.03434 22746, email: [email protected]
Public organisation “Rivne Marketing Research Centre” (Ukraine), Rivne, Chornovola St. 76A/32, 33028 Ukraine
Project partners in Belarus:
Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, vul. Ažeška 22, 230023 Hrodna, Republic of Belarus
Institution of culture “Navahrudak Museum of History and Regional Studies”, vul. Hrodzienskaja 2, 231400 Navahrudak, Hrodna Region, Republic of Belarus
