“Stones of memory roots” , 01.10.2009 – 10.10.2009
The imperative aim of the „Stones of memory roots” project will be growth of tolerance and understanding of young people from Poland and Israel. It is going to be achieved by common drama and art workshop. Thanks to different methods and forms of cooperation we want to discover our common roots in the present by showing that the past is not only a stone in the form of cemetery maceba but it is also a kind of precious stone which may be used to create a wonderful mosaic of two cultures and religions. An Oxford debate, frottage (a method of copying gravestone inscriptions), mosaic, drama, pantomime, poetry explication – all of it will break the stones of prejudice and stereotypes for the reason of origin or religion practiced. We would like the project of students’ exchange to be a specific implementation of a dialogue with diversity, at every step of it. Both countries will be represented by 15 students aged 15-17. Among the participants there will also be people with special needs (as a cooperation with Murowana Goślina Association of Disabled People’ Friends). We will be working in Poland in a few different places: in Murowana Goślina (3 days), in Dobrzyca and Wrocław (3 days), in Oświęcim (1 day), in Kraków (2 days) and in Warszawa (1 day). The selection of localities is due to a main subject of the project and planned activities.
The project will be built with symbolic space-time: the past, the present and the future focused around the leading motive: a stone. The young people – taking part in workshop – will understand the stone symbolism in different cultures and religions. Through that we would like to learn ourselves, our own past (both the individual and the national one). So it is going to be a mysterious space which – by our common workshop, drama, debate and a performance – we will try to explore, open and get through the inside. Secondly, stone is a perfect material that the variety and many works of art are built of. In the process of our act some mosaics will be created. They all will symbolise cooperation, variety, tolerance and remembrance. The particular stages of the project will make an interpretation of “Conversation with a Stone” – a poem by Wisława Szymborska. They will also refer to the Markowicz family history – to the family tree of a Jewish who lived in Murowana Goślina and whose descendants from Israel and the USA visited our town two years ago. The project will last for 10 days and will start in Murowana Goślina. Within three days the young people will take part in mosaic workshop. They will also be involved in transcription of the texts that is placed on the only maceba survived from the Jewish cemetery located in Murowana Goślina before the Second World War. The mosaic will be placed by the memorial stone that is situated on a former Jewish cemetery.
The student will get to know the history of the Markowicz family from the descendants living in Israel and the USA themselves (a videoconference). On the basis of the gained information, the project participants will then start preparing a screenplay for the play on a Jewish family life.
During next stages, there will be new mosaics made to be left in the places where the project group will be present. There will also be new chapters of the Markowicz family history added. In turn, we will go to the places when the family lived – that is why we will visit Dobrzyca and Wrocław. In the White Stork Synagogue we will finalised our performance and will show it to the students of one of the Wrocław secondary schools. (Wrocław is the last place for the most members of the Markowicz family before extermination). The next point of our working will be Oświęcim – Auschwitz. Each of participants will bring stones or pebbles (there will be also ones from Israel). In a set spot (probably next to the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Auschwitz) a symbolic mosaic of a tree with leaves and roots – a symbol of life that is reborn after death (after Aushwitz) – will be made.
A visit to Kraków, to the Ghetto Heroes Square – where there are 34 chairs – will be the next to the last stage of our project. As our whole group will be 34 people in total, we will fill up the space perfectly. It will also be a place where we meet Wisława Szymborska, the author of the poem that we would familiarise with. The teenagers will present the pantomime based on her text. From Kraków we will go to Warszawa to show how the Jews and the Polish cooperate and coexist in the present (Beit Warszawa, the Warsaw Jewish Community). Our students will also take part in workshop on tolerance prepared by Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland animators. We will be guests of “Euro” Radio, too. In a Tomasz Kosiorek program “Leave a message” we will send the message about our common past: that it is the chance to build a common future for Europe, the one that will never blot out the memory of European Jews.
