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Description
There are places in Poland, like Jewish cemeteries or concentration camp sites, that are designated as Spaces of Difficult Heritage, because they evoke tensions due to different interpretation of history and the contemporary ways of managing these physical spaces. According to our observations there are no established standards for work in and with these spaces, especially when involving local governments, individual citizens, and the minorities. The subject is particularly difficult in cities where there exists a large competition for every square inch of the available real estate. As a result, the subject often provokes hostile attitudes from local governments and divides communities involved. These spaces and places are at danger of becoming forgotten or built over and erased. We will address these issues by taking action in two cities – Cracow, a site of KL Plaszów concentration camp, and Wrocław – where a Jewish cemetery has been removed from Gwarna street after the war. We will organize a social campaign directed at local populations of these cities. It will teach the youth and other citizens about history, identity, and ways of remembering. Additionally, it will flag the antisemitism issues that are still present in some cases. We will train 50 volunteers, 18 to 25 years old, in both cities, to interview local communities. They will talk to them about plans for developing the Spaces of Difficult Heritage. We will ask the Jewish community and the local government to share their thoughts as well. Together we will create recommendations and generate ideas for the places presented in the report. We will share our tools and practices for good stewardship of these spaces with other local governments in Poland. We will collaborate on the project with our partner from Wrocław – Urban Memory Foundation, and with the Polish Scouts Association, Cracow Chapter, which will support us with their staff and experience working with historic sites.
Summary of project results
There are places in Poland - for example, Jewish cemeteries or the remains of extermination camps - that are referred to as Places of Difficult Heritage because they raise tensions related to the interpretation of the past and the contemporary development of these spaces. According to our observations, there was a lack of standards for working in such places, especially with the involvement of local authorities, male and female residents and the voice of minorities. This topic is particularly difficult in cities where there is a lot of competition for each space. As a result, the topic has often been resented by local authorities and divided those living in them, who do not always want to talk about the identity and memory of these places. Such places are often in danger of being forgotten or built over.
We responded to these problems by carrying out activities in two cities - in Krakow, where the KL Plaszow concentration camp existed, and in Wrocław, where the Jewish cemetery on Gwarna Street was liquidated after the war. We organised a public awareness campaign targeting male and female residents of these cities about local history and identity, commemoration practices and the problems associated with anti-Semitism. We trained male and female volunteers in both towns, aged 18-25, to interview male and female residents. The volunteers talked to the Kraków residents about plans to develop the Places of Difficult Heritage space. We also asked local government representatives and the Jewish community for their opinions. Together, we developed recommendations and ideas for these places, which we presented in the report. We created artistic interpretations of the opinions collected, which we incorporated into the campaign. We shared the tools and good practices developed for caring for such places with other local governments in Poland.
We carried out our activities together with our partner from Wrocław, the Urban Memory Foundation, and in close cooperation with the Polish Scouting Association, Krakow Circle, who supported us with their staff and experience in working around the selected sites.
Evaluation questionnaires show that the volunteers evaluated the training programme as very valuable and the project as useful - developing competences, building new relationships and addressing an important social problem. From a topic existing only in the conversations of specialists - the cemetery became part of local history and grew to become a place recognised by people living in the city, including city officials and clerks or activists and activists.