The partnership included a number of sub-projects that studied both historical and contemporary issues. Their objective was to promote knowledge of Jewish culture and history, and help to strengthen intercultural understanding in the two countries. The Norwegian Holocaust Center’s Vibeke Moe acted as coordinator for the partnership, which was financed via EEA Grants / Norway Grants.
1. Interview-based study of Jewish history, minority experiences and antisemitism
Title: Educational programs for youth based on oral history resources
Participants: Vibeke Moe (Norwegian Holocaust Centre), Anita Christensen and Mats Tangestuen (Oslo Jewish Museum), and Joanna Król, Albert Stankowski and Justyna Majewska (Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw).
The Norwegian Holocaust Center, Oslo Jewish Museum and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw collaborated on the interview-based project Educational programs for youth based on oral history resources. By means of qualitative interviews with Jews and non-Jews in Norway and Poland, the project aimed to boost knowledge of Jewish history, culture and experiences in the two countries. The project studied memories and narratives from the time before, during and after WWII. In addition, the project had a contemporary element that sought to shed light on the experiences of the Jewish minorities in Norway and Poland today. Here, experience of antisemitism was a key aspect. Overall, the project therefore helped to highlight to relationships between the majority and minority populations both in the past and the present day. Similarities and differences between the Polish and Norwegian context formed a unique backdrop for the project, and the material collected represents a new and valuable source of knowledge about the Jewish minority’s situation in Poland and Norway.
Teaching
Teaching methods and programmes were developed on the basis of the material collected by the researchers from the Norwegian Holocaust Center and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. This work was also linked to conferences and seminars staged in connection with the Faces of Diversity project (see below).
Documentary film
A documentary film was made in partnership with the Oslo Jewish Museum. The film focuses on a Polish-Norwegian family through Bente Kahan, and has a comparative perspective on Jewish culture and history.
Digital archive
The Oslo Jewish Museum and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw have also collaborated on the development of a Norwegian component in the Virtual Shtetl project, which is an online portal based on a survey of Jewish history in Poland. The portal was officially launched on 16 June 2009 and contains an overview of more than 1,240 towns, with maps, statistics and picture galleries. The project sheds light on Jewish migration from Poland to Norway and provides information about the places (shtetl) the Jews came from.
2. International series of conferences on intercultural understanding
Title: The Faces of Diversity – teaching and learning about Jewish-Polish history as learning to live together in a diverse and pluralist society
Participants: Claudia Lenz and Julie Skøien (The European Wergeland Centre), Vibeke Moe (Norwegian Holocaust Center), Anita Christensen and Mats Tangestuen (Oslo Jewish Museum), Lise Rebekka Paltiel (Trondheim Jewish Museum), Sanna Brattland and Jon Reitan (Falstad Centre), and Ewa Chomicka and Anna Berkowicz (Museum of the History of Polish Jews).
Coordinator: The European Wergeland Centre
The Norwegian Holocaust Center was also involved in staging a series of conferences on intercultural understanding and democracy development. The European Wergeland Centre coordinated the project, which included three international conferences for the five participating institutions and international experts on the various topics. The conferences addressed how the teaching of history and cultural heritage could be included in lessons on democracy and contribute to the development of intercultural understanding. The project thus linked historical research with the study and teaching of contemporary issues. The conferences acted as links between and discussion forums for the other projects and aimed in part to promote the development of teaching methods and programmes for future use in the institutions’ work.
The first conference was held at the Norwegian Holocaust Center on 17–18 March 2014 under the heading: “The Faces of Diversity – Historical learning as intercultural learning”
3. Student exchanges and field trips for teachers
Participants: Sanna Brattland and Jon Reitan (Falstad Centre), Monika Koszyńska and Magdalena Utracka (Museum of the History of Polish Jews).
During the project period, the Falstad Centre and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw worked together to organise exchange trips to Poland for Norwegian school students. During the trips, the exchange students visited the POLIN museum in Warsaw. The goal of the student exchange was to increase Norwegian school students’ knowledge of Jewish culture and create an understanding of the Jewish minority's significance and the role it has played in Norwegian culture and contemporary society. In addition, field trips for Polish teachers to Falstad and Trondheim in Norway were also organised. The objective here was to increase knowledge of a shared Norwegian-Polish history, establish networks between Norwegian and Polish teachers and discuss joint educational programmes. An overarching goal was to establish a shared understanding of how Jewish culture can be linked to other topical issues, such as intercultural understanding and democracy.