Description
The project aims at fighting anti-Semitism, discrimination and intolerance of cultural diversity in Tarnów (45% of the city's population was Jewish before 1939). Today, Tarnów is monocultural and struggles with secondary anti-Semitism and intolerance. The project will meet its goals by offering formal and informal youth education, encouraging volunteering and involving young people in designing the “Jewish Street" event. The Polish partner will co-ordinate a group of volunteers (20 individuals) and the Norwegian partner will run a series of seminars from pedagogy students on the subject of developing the attitudes of tolerance. The project is expected to lead to the minimisation of hate speech and to the development of a more tolerant society. The direct beneficiaries of the project will be the local youth and children (over 600 individuals). Indirectly, residents and visitors to Tarnów will also benefit by taking part in the Jewish Street event.
Summary of project results
"Tarnów used to be one of the most important centres of Jewish culture in the region - until World War II, 45 per cent of the town's population were Jewish. Throughout the post-war period, the Tarnów inhabitants blocked out the cultural heritage of the Jews and their knowledge of their Jewish neighbours' history is patchy. A survey conducted by the Committee showed that over 60 per cent of students never participated in a lesson devoted to the culture and history of Jews. Only 15 per cent of young people could name famous Jews from Tarnów. Majority of the respondents know nothing about the role of Jews in the town history. Young people learn about ethnic and religious minorities mainly from the Internet (82 per cent). A report of the Foundation “The local knowledge"" shows that 65 per cent of posts to the Internet fora related to Jews contains hate speech and hostile language (raportmniejszości.pl). What is more, more often than other groups, young people encounter hate speech in private conversations (40 per cent). 76 per cent of respondents confirmed that they told racist anecdotes and wrote racist slogans. We can see anti-Semitic and football fans' slogans on the town buildings. The aim of the project was to make young people in Tarnów sensitive to anti-Semitism, discrimination and intolerance towards other cultures. Young project participants created an interactive map to enable marking sites where hate speech in writing appeared. 15 graffiti with hostile language were removed. The project implementation included training for 21 young volunteers to prepare them for future activities. 29 talks “Let's talk about tolerance"" were organised in schools as well as 34 lessons on “There was once a town"" for 432 students. A music workshop, a concert of Jewish music and a cultural event “Jewish Street"" were organized for Tarnów residents for tourists. A mural with antidiscrimination message was painted. An exhibition “Forgotten archives"" was shown in 20 schools and in cultural and educational institutions. 20 walks for 404 participants were organized in the form an urban game. Both students and teachers from Tarnów were beneficiaries of the project implementation. HL-Sentere, the Norwegan partner, conducted a series of seminars on developing the attitude of tolerance for student of pedagogy. The AntySchematy2 Foundation helped reaching the project beneficiaries."
Summary of bilateral results
To the end of furthering experience exchange with the Partner organisation, Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities, and establishing contact with other Norwegian institutions, a study visit to Norway was organised. During the visit, participants were presented with diverse methods of archiving minority-related documents, designing exhibitions, and using such materials as part of youth-targeting educational campaigns.