Jewish Culture and History of East Central Europe

Historically, Lviv has been a city where various cultures intersected and co-existed, thus creating a rich and beautiful heritage. Presently, Lviv has to overcome a challenge to understand the need to cherish its multicultural past, to recognize and preserve the historical heritage of the city’s diverse communities.

Eighteen young people were selected to participate in the summer school. They were undergraduates, post-graduates, and junior researchers in humanities from Lviv and other cities in Ukraine. They were not required to be engaged in Jewish studies but they had to be open for new information and contacts and willing to expand their knowledge.

During the four weeks, Jewish studies experts lectured on Jewish history, literature, and culture, and also delivered a basic Yiddish course.

Summer school participants attended the following courses:

Guest lecturers Oksana Boyko, Leonid Finberg, Zhanna Kovba, Anatoliy Podolskyi, Andriy Portnov, Mykola Homaniuk, Barbara Gierszewska, Piotr Piluk, Piotr Drag, Katarzyna Laczowicz, Vladimir Levin, and Khrystyna Boyko talked about various aspects of Jewish-Ukrainian relations, Jewish cultural heritage and memorial sites, as well as the Holocaust.

In addition, there were excursions, discussions, film shows and exhibitions thematically related with the scope of subjects of the summer school.

The courses languages of tuition were Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Credits

Сover Image: Great suburban synagogue on Bozhnycha Street, 1910-1914. Claudia Erdheim Collection / Urban media archive