Donate
e.g: Grant

School-Expedition in Lepel (Belarus), 21-31 July 2014

Lepel_foto_21.JPGSchool-Expedition in Lepel, Belarus (23–31st of July). The goal of the expeditions to old Belarusian Jewish towns is to reconstruct the history of the shtetl on the base of oral testimonies and historical documents as well as to research the objects of material heritage (first of all it’s Jewish cemeteries).


Lepel’s history starts in 15th century. In the beginning of the 20th century half of the population was Jewish, there were 8 synagogues in the town. During the WWII Nazi occupants organized the Lepel Ghetto where all the Jews that didn’t escape were killed in 1942.

The program of the School included theoretical (lectures on the history of East-European Jewry, traditional folk culture of poly-ethnical districts, Jewish ethnography and epigraphy) and practical parts (collecting ethnographic material on oral history, ethno-cultural stereotypes, etc. and works on description of Jewish cemetery of 17–19th centuries).

Lepel_foto_22.jpg


The results of the expeditionary work and the catalogue of Lepel’s cemetery were published (see below).

The program of the school (in Russian) is available here

Photos Album is here

The School in Lepel is organized by Sefer Center with the support of Genesis Philanthropy Group and UJA Foundation of NY.




Video about the school