Resurrecting a lost heritage

Though a thriving Jewish community with a rich, unique culture lived in this country for over 600 years, most people associate Poland with the deaths of millions of Jews, and not the vibrant Jewish lives lived here. If Poland could find a way to change those attitudes, "the culture of Polish Jews could be a great promotion for the country" the president of the Institute of Tourism (IT) Krzysztof Łopaciński said.

Many schools in Israel carry out obligatory trips to Poland where they tour the places of Jewish martyrdom. Unfortunately, there are hardly any other attractions on offer, so students lose the opportunity to learn about the culture of their ancestors in Poland. "We should show them the dances of Polish Jews or a traditional Jewish wedding" Łopaciński says.

Slowly things are beginning to change. The first weekend of July saw thousands of people dancing in the streets of Kraków celebrating the finale of one of Europe's largest Jewish festivals. The nine day extravaganza took place in the historic Kazimierz district, which was home to the city's Jewish population for more than six centuries. Adventurous tourists were rewarded with a large number of activities, from Klezmer free-jazz to Kosher cuisine and from Hebrew calligraphy to Hassidic dancing.

What's particularly interesting is that a heritage that stood on the brink of extinction has been recreated almost entirely in absence of Jews - there are only about 100-150 living in Kraków.

"It is indeed true that there aren't that many Jewish people here in the festival organization," said the festival's spokeswoman, Elka Konewicz. "But we feel it is most important that we bring people from all over the world who cultivate and live the real Jewish culture," she adds.

The festival was launched by non-Jews in 1989 and has grown into a massive event with performers from all over the world. The final night's concert attracted  15,000 revelers and was broadcast on Polish television.

Łopaciński underlines the importance of the Kazimierz festival, but laments the fact  that "there are no Jewish heritage sites in Poland. There are hardly any quarters in cities where you can go and eat Jewish food, buy souvenirs, learn traditional Jewish dances." In September thousands of people flocked to Warsaw's ul. Próżna for a weekend festival of Jewish culture, proving just how popular Jewish heritage is among Poles. There were plans to make ul. Próżna (one of the few streets of the Warsaw Ghetto that escaped destruction) part of a Jewish heritage quarter in Warsaw, however, the plans are far from being realized.

The Institute's president claims that promoting Jewish culture in small towns once inhabited by Jews could draw many tourists from both Poland and the West and help promote  small towns. "Organizing traditional festivals in those small towns could draw many tourists from Poland and abroad who want to see a rebirth of traditional Jewish culture for a few days." Such festivals could bring Hassidic Jews from Israel or the US, and they in turn would attract Poles and foreign tourists.

"Jewish culture is very popular at the moment and we are not doing even one tenth of what we could to draw tourists with it" the media advisor to the president of the Polish National Tourist Office (POT) Krzysztof Turowski said.