Highlights
- Transforming inventory work into a participatory, educational process
- Combining documentation, interpretation, art- and care-based practices
- Engaging students, local communities, and heritage professionals with site-specific projects
Description
A series of three educational and commemorative field activities conducted in Złotoryja, Oława, and Chrzanów focused on the participatory documentation, interpretation and/or marking of dispersed Jewish material heritage. All activities were designed as hands-on, collaborative processes involving participants in identifying matzevah fragments and Hebrew and German inscriptions, 3D scanning of selected objects and using ecological pigments to make them visible in the urban setting. Although each case was a bit different, applying this approach enabled collective acts of remembrance, linking expert knowledge/techniques with ethical reflection and local memory practices.
Case Study 7: Field-Based Inventory and Eco-Pigment Workshop, Złotoryja (Poland)
A workshop for secondary school students introduced participatory inventory practices at the local Jewish cemetery and surrounding area.
Following an expert-led introduction to Jewish funerary traditions, participants conducted fieldwork documenting reused matzevah fragments. The activity included hands-on cataloguing and interpretation exercises.
Importantly, the workshop incorporated care-based micro-interventions, such as temporary marking of fragments using natural eco-pigments. This connected documentation practices with green commemoration, linking material heritage with environmental awareness and embodied engagement.
Case Study 8: “Return of the Matzevah,” Oława (Poland)
The activity centred on the restitution of a historical tombstone belonging to Moritz Bruck (1779–1857), identified, conserved, and returned to the Jewish cemetery.
The event combined:
- participatory documentation and interpretation
- public educational lecture on Jewish burial practices
- discussion of the broader phenomenon of reused matzevot
The reinstallation of the matzevah functioned as both a symbolic act of restitution and a practical outcome of inventory-based research, demonstrating how documentation can lead to material and ethical interventions.
Case Study 9: Participatory Marking of the Great Synagogue’s Outline, Chrzanów (Poland)
In October 2024, in Chrzanów, on the site of the former Esther’s Square – where two years earlier, as part of the FestivALT practice of green commemorations, and in collaboration with artists Katarzyna and Marta Sala and Robert Yerachmiel Sniderman, the Esther Willow had been planted – an event entitled “Restoring Memory of Her” took place. Artist Anna Schapiro, together with students from nine primary schools in the Chrzanów district, used natural pigments to recreate the outline of the Great Synagogue, which had been demolished in 1973.
Staff members of the Irena and Mieczysław Mazaraki Museum in Chrzanów, together with the Municipal Centre for Culture, Sport and Recreation, helped determine the approximate boundaries of the synagogue’s foundations. In addition to teachers, the event was attended by the deputy mayor of the city, representatives of the museum, and local media.
The marking activity was preceded by a short introduction for the children to the role synagogues play in Jewish culture and religion and recounting the history of the Great Synagogue in Chrzanów. The children were also invited to share personal experiences of multigenerational memory transmission, and to reflect on whether memories or knowledge of the synagogue continue to exist within their families or immediate surroundings today.
For the younger generation, the participatory event became both a commemorative and an educational practice. Its inclusive and active character was met with great enthusiasm by the students, who experienced it as an engaging alternative to traditional history or museum lessons, where they are in the position of passive recipients of knowledge. At the same time, preceding the marking activity with a short introductory meeting helped provide proper historical context and establish a substantive foundation for the subsequent field activities.
The pigments were donated free of charge by the Berlin-based company Kremer Pigmente, and the outline of the synagogue remained visible in the city space for the following months.
Challenges
- HOW can participatory approaches to commemorating Jewish heritage be designed to engage diverse groups within the local community?
- HOW can methodologies and tools be accurately adapted to the specific historical, social, and cultural context of a given location and community?
- HOW can participants with different levels of prior knowledge be meaningfully involved in commemorative activities?
Solutions
- Involving subject-matter experts throughout the process to provide historical, educational, and methodological guidance and ensure the quality of the project.
- Tailoring activities to the needs, skills, and levels of experience of different participant groups, ensuring meaningful and accessible engagement.
- Integrating commemorative, educational, and community-building dimensions within participatory practices to create a more sustainable impact.
Key Takeaways
- Participatory approaches can take many forms and use different tools, including both on-site engagement and the integration of new digital technologies.
- Bringing together diverse stakeholder groups within a participatory process benefits all participants and strengthens the overall impact of the project.
- Such initiatives do not necessarily need to produce fixed or final outcomes; they can be understood as open-ended, iterative processes that encourage repetition, adaptation, and further development over time.
See also: Case Studies 1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3