Surveying the ghettos Grodno - Chernivtsi - Chișinău

The aim is to record ghetto life of the Jewish population in the years from 1941 to 1944 using digital formats, to promote the local and regional culture of commemoration and to promote these topics to new, young target groups. The project results will be published on a digital platform in several languages as well as disseminated by participants in schools and educational institutions. The project also serves to promote the expansion of the structures of the IKGS with partners from Ukraine and Moldova as well as to integrate institutions from Belarus into the project work for the first time.

Impulse Workshops (October 9-11, 2020) in Grodno, Czernowitz, and Chișinău: Simultaneous workshops in three cities with 20 students as well as experts in history, media, IT, and Holocaust studies. Directed by Dr. Galina Corman (Chișinău), Mykola Kuschnir (Czernowitz), Dr. Aliaksandr Radziuk (Grodno). Topics: Introduction to ghetto history, joint exchange, presentation of the digital communication platform, lectures and discussions on the topics of collective memory / local Holocaust commemoration and its significance for society, in-depth research on available documents, testimonies and archival materials, Presentation of digital multimedia formats for journalism and work with materials on the topic of the ghetto/Holocaust, discussion with participants on the use and impact of digital materials of Holocaust education in cultural and educational work, practical development of ideas for individual microprojects in small working groups and evaluation of the drafts.

Project Phase: B.

Microprojects (October - November 2020) Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldovan participants to learn about the Jewish lifeworld of Grodno, Czernowitz and Chișinău in the years from 1941 to 1944 through meticulous surveying of the ghettos and independently carry out microprojects using digital tools, which are documented on the project platform. Participants will record the terrain of the ghettos by walking and documenting streets, squares, houses, objects, and former residents; they will interview local residents, talk to eyewitnesses and their descendants, visit active local Jewish institutions, and explore the current Holocaust memorial culture in their localities.

Digital platform: The digital platform documents the individual workshops and will be continuously developed over the project duration through independently researched materials and the results of the microprojects of the participants and the project team. It is public, multilingual, and includes maps, historical and current audio, video, and visual materials, archival documents, biographical testimonies, and multimedia on ghetto history.

Online Meetings (October - November 2020): During and after the work on the microprojects, the participants from Ukraine, Belarus and the Republic of Moldova will exchange ideas in six online meetings. In small international groups, they will get to know each other and their project work better and can discuss specific details and changes in the culture of commemoration. In these meetings, they also have the opportunity to talk about the civil society situation in their countries. In addition, four one-day workshops will take place during this period, in which the experts will support the participants in their microprojects.

Trinational (Virtual) Workshop (three days, November/December 2020): Instead of the planned one-week face-to-face workshop, this workshop will take place in virtual space. Participants will present their project results and discuss them with experts. Presentations and workshops for schools and educational institutions will be prepared in small working groups.

Facilitation of the project with schools and educational institutions (December 2020): In order to disseminate the project and its digital approach, the participants will present their microprojects in didactic formats in Ukrainian, Belarusian and Moldovan schools and educational institutions. In this way, the project can reach new, young target groups.