This seminar was organized by the ESJF European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative in partnership with the Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies, with support from the Ivano-Frankivsk Jewish community, and was made possible through the support of the German Foreign Office.

First day of the seminar

The first day of a two-day seminar on preserving Jewish cemeteries in Ivano-Frankivsk was opened with speeches by Moshe Leib Kolesnik, Chief Rabbi of Western Ukraine; Halyna Didych, Head of the Horodenka City Council executive committee; and Yaroslava Tkachuk, Director of the National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia Folk Art. Dr. Tim Prange, Permanent Representative of the German Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, sent a greeting letter to the seminar participants.

Lectures during the first day of the seminar were delivered by Taisiia Sydorchuk, Olena Kolb, and Tetiana Fedoriv, while Khrystyna Shcherbyna, Andrii Kostyshyn, and Maksym Murzov guided tours focused on Jewish life in Ivano-Frankivsk.

Second day of the seminar

On the second day of the seminar, participants gained hands-on experience. 

Olena Kolb, Tetiana Fedoriv and Kateryna Malakhova guided more than 40 participants through the old Jewish cemetery in the city of Horodenka, just one hour away from Ivano-Frankivsk, where they practiced reading and translating epitaphs on Jewish tombstones.

Additionally, local historian Volodymyr Burdeniuk gave a tour and shared the history of the Jewish community in Horodenka. The participants were shown what remains of the Jewish heritage in the city.

Journalists from the Jewish Modern Television, Informator, Suspilne Ivano-Frankivsk, Espreso TV, and Diye-Slovo studio covered the event.

This educational seminar was organized by ESJF Educational Projects Officer Alexandra Fishel and the Administrative Director of the Interdisciplinary Certificate Program in Jewish Studies Olena Zaslavska.