Bearing Witness to Genocide in Rural South East Poland

The Situation
For a decade, I have helped children and communities connect with the special places of the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire through Quests, or educational treasure hunts. For five years I have been teaching “Using Burial Grounds to Teach Local History,” at both Antioch New England and Plymouth State University; while for two years I have been facilitating “Whole Thinking Retreats” for the Center for Whole Communities in Fayston, VT.

The Match Strikes
Last fall, I was invited to teach Questing in Poland. I spent two weeks working in Lower Silesia and Lesser Poland. Towards the end of my visit embarked on a “Cemetery Quest” of my own with my daughter, Kayla and two Polish friends.

Then a Spark
That night—the eve of Rosh Hashana—I had a dream in which the water of these three streams (special places, burial grounds, community facilitation) flowed into a single pool. By bringing Americans and Europeans together to repair abandoned Jewish cemeteries, both groups could bear witness to the past, repair in the present, and strengthen relationships for the future. If this work could be done well and brought to scale, then hundreds or even thousands of participants could have formative experiences of Tikkun Olam—repairing the world—as dozens to hundreds of abandoned cemeteries were communally repaired, helping contemporary communities authentically lift veils of silence of forgetting.

And an Offering of Light
Project Preservation of Dartmouth College, the Upper Valley Jewish Community (UVJC), the United Church of Christ of Dartmouth College (CCDC), and Poland’s Fundacja Partnerstwo dla Środowiska will be partnering in Summer 2009 to offer a work/study trip:

Bearing Witness to Genocide in Rural South East Poland

From June 24 - July 5, 2009, members of CCDC and the UVJC are invited to travel with Rev. Carla Bailey and Rabbi Edward Boraz on a 12-day trip to Poland. Together, we will: bear witness at Auschwitz and Birkenau; celebrate the Shabbat in Krakow; participate in Krakow's 2009 Festival of Jewish Culture; and then spend a week repairing a Jewish Cemetery in Lutowiska, Poland.

The projected cost per participant is $2750 - $3000.

In addition, we will be seeking to raise $25,000 towards the physical costs of the cemetery restoration: materials and labor for repairing gravestones and constructing a cemetery enclosure (gate and fence).

Participants will be expected to meet together for study and preparation in advance, in the spring.

If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact:

Steve Glazer - steve@poeticsofplace.com