The story of the Jewish people who lived in eastern Europe is a well-kept secret.
Covering a territory that has had so many identities: the Russian Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Pale of Settlement, the Soviet Union it has had ever-changing borders and was the homeland to 5 million Jewish people at its peak. The history of the Jews people from this region is rich and fascinating but fraught with hardship, persecution and oppression.
In 2020, The Together Plan, with the support of Jewish Child’s Day Charity and the Jewish Chronicle, designed and created a unique online education programme for twelve and thirteen-year-olds. The programme. called ‘Making History Together’ brings a whole new perspective on looking at and understanding the Holocaust. This interactive programme looks at the hidden history of the Jews of Belarus and the Soviet Union and, using this history, the participants go on a journey to explore themes that are meaningful and relevant to them. Not only does it reveal hidden history, but it gives depth and clarity in understanding antisemitism, where Zionism came from and how it all relates to Israel. The whole programme enables the participants to go on a journey learning how to be changemakers and become the best versions of themselves.
Each month the participants receive beautifully designed packs in the post, complete with secret envelopes which reveal hidden history, links to films to watch and activities to do with family and friends. Currently, a travelling exhibition is in development which will accompany the programme and which the participants, year on year, will become a part of. Participants to the online programme need to speak English and as the sessions are all online we are able to accommodate applications from as far as the east coast of the USA.
But this isn’t the whole story! In Belarus, there is no official Holocaust education programme and very few young people today know about the story of the Jews of Belarus. Some villages before the war were close to a hundred percent Jewish. Before the war, over a million Jews lived in the territory that was then Belarus. Over 800,000 were murdered by the Germans. Yet this history is little known in the country today. As part of Making History Together, The Together Plan engaged in a partnership with a College in Minsk to trial a parallel programme and we are excited to say that it was a great success. The teenagers who participated were humbled by what they learned and there is an appetite now to learn more and develop the programme further. Watch the film of the Belarus group visiting the village of Porechye.
Making History Together at Zoymen
Our online global conference, Zoymen 2021: BelarUS Together – is an opportunity to learn more about Making History Together. On the 10th October at 14.00 BST there will be a session to hear about the programme in Minsk from the College Principal in Minsk, some of the Belarus students and The Together Plan’s Country, Director Artur Livshyts, and on the 17th October at 13.00 BST Leo Levine, who co-created the programme and who leads the online programme, will be running the session ‘Making History Together: Rediscovering the Belarusian Jewish story’ which will be a chance to learn more about this incredibly exciting new programme that has received phenomenal feedback from the participants who just completed the programme in its inaugural year. Zoymen is also a chance to explore the history of Jewish Belarus, hear personal stories, watch a fascinating film to find out why the Soviet Jews were silenced after the war, listen to live Klezmer from Minsk and join the dialogue around Jewish history, heritage and identity.
What are the parents from Making History Together 2021 saying?
The programme was a wonderful experience overall, both informative and challenging in the best possible way. I believe my son felt a real sense of pride and accomplishment by the end
Will your child be a changemaker in 2022? We really do hope so.
The link to apply for a place in 2022 can be found here.
To find out more about Zoymen 2021: BelarUS Together click here.
Read the article that was published in the Jewish Chronicle on the 25th June 2021