Yesterday (November 20, 2013) concluded the annual conference of the Association of European Jewish Museums (AEJM), bringing together several dozen museums from 22 countries. The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is an active member of the Association: in October, we jointly organized the AEJM Educators Training Programme in Warsaw. Next year, together with the Jewish Historical Institute, we will be hosting the next conference.

This year’s four-day conference Where We Are. Site, Space, Context, took place in Munich and Hohenems (Austria). The Museum’s deputy director, Katarzyna Nowakowska-Sito, was a member of the first panel during the plenary session.

The rich and varied conference program included lectures, workshops, including on creating exhibitions and education, as well as presentations of museum projects. Dr. Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek’s lecture on the functioning of Jewish museums within the context of a place was particularly inspiring. Participants also had an opportunity to visit many interesting exhibitions, historic sites and private collections.

During the general assembly, representatives of the institutions united under the AEJM banner approved the admission of four new members, including the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow and the Jewish Museum in Riga. They also elected three new members to the Association’s six-person board, including Łucja Koch, head of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews Education Department.