European Day of Jewish Culture

The festival takes place every year on the first Sunday in September across Europe. It is based on the concept of an open day event and every year a theme is chosen. All participating cities and communities decide according to their possibilities how to present their local Jewish heritage to the public. For a day, synagogues offer guided tours, museums prepare special exhibitions and cinematic or musical festivals take place. The European Day of Jewish Culture creates space for celebrating creativity, remembering the past, highlighting artefacts and architectural treasures, bringing together people who share an interest in the common European-Jewish heritage. All events give impulse for future exhibitions, cultural routes, festivals or commemorations.

In 2009, the Festival was successfully organized in Bratislava, Šaľa, Komárno, Nitra and Bardejov. For the first time, the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage city of Bardejov, once a home to an important Jewish community joined into the European Day of Jewish Culture. The Bikur Cholim Synagogue, a constituent of the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route, was open to the broad public for the first time ever. The entire event was organized by Pavol and Peter Hudák, local activists and researchers of Bardejov Jewish history. In words of Peter Hudák, who currently completes his studies of history at the university in Nitra: "Strong participation of local people confirmed their interest in Jewish culture and monuments. In this way the residents of Bardejov send message to the world that they do not forget their own history, whose important part were the Jews."

About the Day in Bardejov, see at: http://powercore.btsbj.sk/~videoarchiv/spravodajstvo/script/352.php