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ALT News: Winds of change

10.06.2021

:: SAVE THE DATE :
FestivALT 2021 is coming. Mark your calendar between June 25th and July 4th.

We are happy to announce the return of a live FestivALT programme for 2021. We will soon be revealing more information for the year, which will include mostly live, covid-times friendly events. Stay informed by following us on social media and keep an eye out for a forthcoming newsletter entirely dedicated to the 2021 edition.

:: THE NEXT LEVEL :
FestivALT Co-Director, Magda Rubenfeld, is interviewed in one of Poland’s largest news portals about the former KL Płaszów concentration camp.
Copy and paste the URL: https://tinyurl.com/39jhfz3d into google translate to read the text in English.

There was another proverbial fire recently lit in the former KL Płaszów concentration camp, fanning the flames of the already tense atmosphere amongst locals and the City. A self-dubbed “civil guerrilla” installed two park benches on the site without formal permission, igniting another round of tense debate. We had the opportunity to continue mediation, and also comment on the situation. In an interview for Onet, one of Poland’s largest online news portals, FestivALT Co-Director, Magda Rubenfeld Koralewska, offered her perspective on the situtation and the possible scenarios that could unfold should the complications of this difficult site be left unattended.

:: TIME FOR KRAKOW TO HAVE A NEW SOUVENIR ::
We have established a task force dedicated to working on the issue of Poland’s controversial “Lucky Jew” objects. Read below about our most recent success. 

This has been a very active time, indeed. We have continued our quest to negotiate the “Lucky Jew” figurines out of Krakow and Poland’s commercial spaces. This includes our desire to help reframe the problems of their presence for sellers and buyers of the objects. We are proud to report that, thanks in part to our work, the City of Krakow has commenced a series of official round tables to officially discuss the appropriate next steps for the City to take. We will continue to update you on the progress, and in the meantime we are already starting to see change happen. A recent handcraft fair in Krakow’s Main Square – generally a popular opportunity to sell Lucky Jews, seemed to be entirely free of the objects!

:: BOOK A TOUR WITH US :
Learn more about our popular online tours of Krakow and contact us for details about inviting your community/group/synagogue for an exclusive engagement.

Our popular ALT Tours have been a FestivALT trademark since their inception. Our collection of Tours has steadily grown over the years and many are designed as digital experiences. We’ve already partnered with the Johannesberg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto, American Jewish University in Los Angelas and several Hillel groups. We are pleased to now be offering exclusive Tours for you and your community. Please be in touch with us to discuss the details and we look forward to partnering!

:: NEW PARTNERSHIPS:

We are excited to announce new partnerships for the Places of Remembering and Forgetting project. We received an honorary patronage from the Consul General of Germany in Krakow and an official partnership patronage from the City of Krakow.