Jewish history seems lost in the cities, towns, and countryside of Eastern Galicia. Other than building placards, cemeteries, and scattered memorials, the region’s Jewish history, and the lives of its former inhabitants are eerily silent. But a closer look tells a different story.
Rachel Stevens will discuss three projects she completed as a Fulbright Scholar which have reanimated powerful events in Jewish history. These projects include:
1) recreating a digital map of Lviv's Jewish buildings prepared by Borys Orach;
2) creating a walking tour dedicated to the remarkable story of the Chiger family, who were Holocaust survivors;
3) sculpting a memorial to victims of the Janowska camp.
In this exciting discussion with Dr. Sofiya Dyak, Director of the Centre for Urban History in Lviv, Stevens will also discuss how she has cooperated with the City of Lviv to recognize people working on behalf of Jewish memory and culture across Eastern Galicia. The occasion for this talk is in honor of September as international Holocaust History Month. Join us!
Join our event on September 29th at 6:00 PM, and share your questions!
We’ll be streaming this event in English to America House Kyiv and Fulbright Ukraine Facebook pages. You can also join the event on America House Kyiv and Fulbright Ukraine YouTube channels.
The discussion will be moderated by Jessica Zychowicz, Director of Fulbright Ukraine. This event is part of a series of talks dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright program.
Learn more about speakers:
🔹 Rachel Stevens received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a MFA from Syracuse University. She attended The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture while still an undergrad at MICA. Rachel’s passion for art serves as a flying carpet of sorts, inspiring travels and research to many countries around the world, including Fulbright Research Scholarships to Patan, Nepal (2006) and Lviv, Ukraine (2018). When in Ukraine, Rachel collaborated with geographers, historians, and other artists to produce works that honored the Jewish community that populated the region prior to the Holocaust. Rachel has received numerous grants and awards, including an award from the Mayor of the City of Lviv for her work during her Fulbright year.
🔹 Dr. Sofia Dyak is director of the Center for Urban History, an institution working across the fields of academic research, education, public and digital history in Lviv, Ukraine. Her research interests include post-war urban recovery and transformation in Eastern Europe, heritage infrastructures and practices in socialist cities and their legacies. Dr. Dyak was a fellow of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, the Historical Dialogue and Accountability Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights of Columbia University and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
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