Today ESJF Project Manager, Klara Vlahčević Lisinski, and Public Sector Liaise Ambassador, Nata Yeromenko, had a kick-off online-meeting with our long term partner Piotr Puchta from Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland – FODŻ to discuss potential collaboration on the establishment of a regional cemetery association in Poland under our new European Commission project. FODZ is a Polish organisation established in 2002 and the only institution in Poland officially dedicated to the task of recovering, preserving, and commemorating physical sites of Jewish significance. What is especially important, the Foundation is active where no Jewish community exists today or where it is difficult for existing small Jewish communities to provide adequate long-term care and maintenance for Jewish heritage sites, thus making them especially endangered.
Having such a dedicated ally is crucial in a country where we have fenced 17 Jewish cemeteries and have surveyed many more. During the meeting we discussed potential legal aspects of our future cooperation, distribution of roles and general sustainability of our efforts. FODZ has already been a vocal supporter of the idea that cooperation and unified action of many actors is necessary to make Jewish cemeteries preservation efforts permanent. We look forward to deepening our partnership after the Pesach break!
Pictures taken during our EU survey visit in 2021 to the Debrzno-Wieś Jewish cemetery, Poland which has been left abandoned since the 20th century.