PARIS, FRANCE–The EDJC Organizers and Coordinators Meeting 2023 took place from February 22 to 23 with the majority of its sessions and workshops occurring at the Memorial de la Shoah and a final session and closing ceremony concluding the meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The bi-annual meeting for organizers and coordinators of European Days of Jewish Culture activities occurs in an extraordinary context and under the umbrella of an exceptional program the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values program of the European Union.

Organizers and coordinators of the European Days of Jewish Culture had the opportunity to spend two full days together in the city of Paris with the aim of training and reflecting upon how to work with the 2023 edition’s theme of memory. The theme of memory is particularly relevant to the EDJC, as it allows us to explore and remember the rich history of Jewish culture and heritage. The festival provides participants with an opportunity to learn about Jewish culture and history, as well as to reflect on the rôle of memory in shaping our understanding of the past and the present.

During the meeting, attendees witnessed the uncovering of the poster of this year’s edition designed by Nikola Radic Lucati, Founder of the Center for Holocaust Research and Education in Belgrade, Serbia. Participants had the opportunity to participate in training sessions and workshops on the theme of memory, as well as to attend coordination meetings and networking events.

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Participants in the project to promote mutual understanding among young future leaders from Lithuania’s Roma and Jewish ethnic communities sponsored by the Goodwill Foundation and Germany’s EVZ Foundation visited the award-winning POLIN Jewish history museum in Warsaw. Besides viewing the interactive exhibits teaching about 1,000 years of Jewish history in Poland, the young people and educators engaged in a discussion there among themselves and with educators from the museum

People often say there are two Warsaws, pre- and post-war, not surprising since the entire city was leveled in warfare and especially during the Warsaw Uprising, and painstakingly reconstructed in the post-war period. The female guide for the Lithuanian delegation was a rare original resident of the Polish capital and able to speak something like seven languages.

“This museum is a huge story and we have the moral duty to tell it,” she said. The bright modern museum located in the Warsaw ghetto stands in sharp contrast to the dark granite monument commemorating the heroes of the Uprising. The guide told the group around 80% of world Jewry called Poland home for centuries. The Lithuanian delegation led by the guide viewed multimedia installations, texts, music, paintings, photographs and recreated scenes from Jewish daily life.