In October, I took part in the travel literature festival in Venice, Invito al Viaggio, in conversation with the British Muslim travel writer Tharik Hussain. Our conversation was moderated by Shaul Bassi.
Take a look — it’s a great conversation (though I didn’t realize how much I fiddle with my hands…..)
Hilary Danailova has written an lengthy article in Hadassah Magazine about Jewish genealogy — and travel, in which I’m quoted, about the impact of digital resources. Her article is called A Pilgrimage Through Ancestral Lands.
“The revolution in genealogy travel is Facebook,” observed Ruth Ellen Gruber, a veteran journalist and Jewish travel authority […]. “There are a million Facebook groups, with subgroups for individual cemeteries, synagogues, shtetls and so forth. People can ask questions and get immediate answers from across the world.” Gruber oversees what is arguably the most comprehensive resource for Jewish heritage tourists: the web portal Jewish Heritage Europe, with daily updates on Jewish heritage-related sights, events and people across the continent, along with genealogy and travel insights.
I’m quoted in an article by Sophie Panzer in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, titled: Cant Travel Due to COVID Restrictions? Take a Virtual Tour of Jewish History
“Jewish Heritage Europe, a website featuring news and information concerning Jewish monuments and cultural sites in Europe, has curated virtual tours and exhibits from various sources.
The site, a project of the Rothschild Foundation, is run by Ruth Ellen Gruber, author of “Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe.” Originally from Philadelphia, she now lives in Europe and has spent the coronavirus lockdown in Italy.
“Museums and other operations have been creating virtual tours and digital recreations and online exhibits for a long time. Since no one can travel, there’s been an explosion of digital experiences of all sorts,” Gruber said. “JHE is an online operation, so I just wanted to bring more useful and expansive content to people who were stuck at home. People want to be entertained, to see beautiful things.”
She started in early March with a series of virtual tours of 11 European towns that included digital recreations of buildings where people could learn local history. After getting a positive response from visitors, she continued to post more virtual experiences in Italy, Hungary, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic and other countries.
In addition to cemeteries and art exhibitions, site visitors can explore “Atlas of Memory Maps.” Mounted by Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre in Lublin, Poland, the online exhibit features maps of pre-war cities, towns and shtetls drawn from former inhabitants’ memories after World War II.
The JHE website also hosts an exhibit of papercut art by the Polish artist Monika Krajewska commemorating Jewish sites that were destroyed during the Holocaust.
“They’re really fabulous, we got a good response,” Gruber said of the artwork.
She said the challenge for tour guides and organizations is monetizing those experiences to help sustain workers in the tourism industry during coronavirus shutdowns.”
I took part in a conference on Jewish Heritage in Slovenia, held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in September 2019.
My presentation was “Notes” from the survey of Jewish heritage in Slovenia that I carried out in 1996 — the first full survey of Jewish heritage in the country, and an endeavor that in many ways underlay the scholarship presented by the other participants in the conference.
That survey was carried out for the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and was published in downloadable form. Click here to access it.
The conference was filmed — here is a video of my presentation.
The Center for Urban History in Lviv has posted the full video of a lecture I presented in Lviv July 27, 2017 at the conclusion of the lecture series “Jewish Days in the City Hall: (Un)Displayed Past in East European Museums.” In the talk I reflected on the changes that have taken place in Jewish heritage tourism since the publication of the first edition of my book “Jewish Heritage Travel” in 1992.
You can watch the entire talk here:
During my lecture in Lviv on July 27, 2017
Nash Holos radio has published an article and podcast about my work by Peter Bejger –– based on a lectures I gave in Lviv and Glasgow on the “dark tourism” aspects of Jewish heritage tourism, as well as on my recent posts on Jewish Heritage Europe from my day trips to Jewish heritage sites in western Ukraine.
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I recently spent a week in western Ukraine, where I gave the concluding talk, July 27, in a series of lectures called “Jewish Days in the City Hall: (Un)Displayed Past in East European Museums.”
Hadassah Magazine runs two articles by me about Venice — one on the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Venice Ghetto, and one on general sight-seeing tips for the Lagoon City.
Venice, 500 Years of the Ghetto
By Ruth Ellen Gruber, August 2016
Venice university professor Shaul Bassi stops beneath an elegant marble plaque affixed to an inner wall of the Jewish community building just off the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, the
Me in front of the abandoned synagogue in Hostice, CZ
The New York Jewish Week runs a (rather blush-worthy!) article by travel writer Hilary Danailova about me and my Jewish heritage work, including the Jewish Heritage Europe web site.
