Jewish cultural heritage is a very significant part of European heritage, and it requires common action and common responsibility in order to preserve it. Ensuring the survival of Jewish historic sites should also contribute to inter-cultural dialogue helping to combat ignorance and prejudice, empowering inclusion and social cohesio
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recently passed a Resolution calling on its Member States to work together to protect and preserve Europe’s Jewish heritage.
The Report was prepared by Swiss MP Raphael Comte, who signaled the importance of designing guidelines to protect and preserve Jewish heritage sites, which is in line with the Council of Europe’s vision on cultural heritage protection. Among the main actions suggested in the report, a key one is to assist Member States to further develop programs on the value of Jewish cultural heritage, with a special focus on the educational and cultural sectors.
The preparation of the report was assisted by FRH member the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, a London – based foundation that works internationally for the preservation of Jewish Heritage. The Council of Europe expressed its thanks to the Foundation for its substantial contribution towards the formulation of the report.
The Foundation Chair Dame Helen Hyde noted; ‘we hope this recognition by the Council of Europe of the value of Jewish heritage will lead to greater action by the countries of Europe to preserve Jewish heritage which is particularly vulnerable given the tragic events in the 20th century.’
The Foundation Chief Executive Michael Mail commented; ‘we were delighted to assist the Council of Europe in this process which has resulted in a series of highly significant statements on the current state of Jewish heritage in Europe and what needs to be done both to save this heritage which is still today at risk in many parts of Europe, and also on how to use such sites for contemporary educational purposes, which is especially important given the current climate.’
FRH strongly supports this report and is delighted that its member the Foundation for Jewish Heritage was able to actively contribute to this initiative. This report provides very necessary guidelines, which we hope will be a strong basis for future action to safeguard Jewish cultural and religious heritage.
For more information on the Foundation for Jewish heritage – click here
To read the full report – click here
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