1300. Jews in Kowal

Through the project “1300. Jews in Kowal” the Ari Ari foundation plans to commemorate the Jewish community and restore the Jewish heritage of Kowal, both in the space of the town and in the memory of the local community. For this purpose a series of meetings will be held, comprising workshops on the history of the Jewish community in Poland and in Kowal; tolerance and intercultural dialog; and a photography/film workshop devoted to the issue of audiovisuality in working with cultural heritage. The next step will be work to set in order and document the remains of Jewish heritage in Kowal. An inventory will also be performed, as will documenting and cleaning up the Jewish cemetery, combined with workshops for residents (dedicated to topics including creating cemetery documentation, basic photographic documentation and cartographic description of the area). The entire project will be tied together by the preparation and ceremonial unveiling of a plaque and installation comprising 1,300 stone and wooden elements commemorating Kowal’s Jewish community. The title of the project refers to the last entry in the registry of residents from 1941: information on citizens of Kowal “of the Mosaic faith” concludes with the number 1,300.