European Janusz Korczak Academy
| European Janusz Korczak Academy | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Registered association |
| founding | 2009 |
| Seat | Munich |
| main emphasis | Jewish youth and adult education |
| Action space | German-speaking area (cooperation in Israel and the USA ) |
| people | Eva Haller (President), Stanislav Skibinski (Managing Director), Boris Ginzburg (Program Director) |
| Website | www.ejka.org |
The European Janusz Korczak Academy eV (EJKA) is a non-governmental organization and educational institution founded in Munich in 2009 , whose main focus is on promoting Jewish youth and adult education and on interreligious dialogue. The academy offers a comprehensive program within Germany in three educational centers, so-called Janusz Korczak houses , in Berlin , Duisburg and at the headquarters in Munich, and supports local Jewish and interreligious grassroots initiatives. International collaborations exist with partner organizations in numerous European countries and in Israel and the United States . The academy is a partner of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Germany.
aims
It is the declared aim of the academy to "strengthen the Jewish community, to open it up and to reduce reservations in every direction" by imparting knowledge. In doing so, it focuses in particular on Jewish cultural education and interreligious or intercultural dialogue , whereby emphasis is placed on the fact that the educational programs are in the classical Jewish teaching tradition. An intensive dialogue between teachers and students is therefore particularly encouraged. As the name suggests, the programmatic and pedagogical basic orientation of the academy can be traced back to the Polish-Jewish pedagogue, author and doctor Janusz Korczak , whose pedagogy of respect still sets standards today and in whose line of tradition the academy expressly places itself. Taking up the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam ("healing or completing the world"), social engagement through education and upbringing is formulated as the goal of one's own activity. In its work, the European Janusz Korczak Academy tries in particular to counteract all forms of prejudice and intolerance, whereby the fight against anti-Semitism naturally occupies a particularly prominent position.
The main fields of activity include:
- Historical perspective of Jewish life in Bavaria up to the present
- Historical and political education (with a focus on commemorating the Holocaust )
- Fight against anti-Semitism, marginalization and xenophobia
- Israel in the context of Bavarian-Israeli relations
- Media literacy
- Children's rights and Janusz Korczak pedagogy
- Support of educational and social initiatives to promote the Jewish community
Education and counseling are therefore at the center of most activities. Much of the activity is concentrated in the three branches in Munich, Berlin and Duisburg, but the academy is also active throughout Germany. In the EU she develops projects in cooperation with Jewish communities and educational institutions in Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Poland and the United Kingdom. Outside the European Union, her work focuses on Israel , the CIS states and the USA .
history
Foundation and naming
The EJKA was founded in May 2009 by a small group of Jewish educators and event managers as an open Jewish educational institution in Munich. The aim was to set up a free Jewish educational institute that would operate independently of the administrative obligations of traditional community work and in a more interreligious framework than would have been possible within the Jewish community. In particular, those Munich Jews who did not belong to the IKG should be won over as interested parties for the program .
Janusz Korczak (1878 / 79–1942) was chosen as the namesake for the educational project. He ran an orphanage in Warsaw until 1942 according to the principles of the "pedagogy of respect" he had established himself Assisted in the summer of 1942.
Build up and grow
After a period of growth marked by difficulties in building up the academy, the academy was able to establish itself as an actor within the Munich cultural scene around 2010/11. The Janusz Korczak Week , which was held for the first time in 2010 and took place annually until 2015 around the International Day of Children's Rights on November 20 in Munich, played a decisive role . The first detailed semester program appeared in summer 2012. In the early years, the President in particular established numerous connections to other non-profit organizations and foundations in Munich and throughout Bavaria. In December 2012 the academy moved into its current office in Munich's Sonnenstrasse, directly on the Altstadtring . At the beginning of 2013, the post of program director was created in order to relieve the board of content-related work and to professionalize the educational work. The post was initially taken over by Oren Osterer, and from May 2014 Alexander Rasumny. In July 2014 the academy celebrated in the presence of numerous guests, including a. of the second mayor of the state capital, Josef Schmid , celebrated its fifth anniversary in the America House in Munich .
The Academy President Eva Haller was awarded the Munich Glow Medal in 2018 .
Currently (May 2018) the association employs a total of 14 full-time employees.
Locations
Locations of the Janusz Korczak houses in Germany (as of May 2018) |
Munich
The Janusz Korczak House in Munich is the oldest and largest of the three Korczak Houses to date and has existed as the parent house since the Academy was founded in 2009. In addition to individual events and educational programs, intercultural and interreligious encounters as part of the Gesher program, the annual Janusz Korczak week and various grassroots projects take place here on a regular basis .
Berlin
The Janusz Korczak House Berlin was opened in 2015 and has been coordinating the Academy's activities in Berlin and Brandenburg since then . In the first independent Berlin project, Lived Diversity and Recognition , young Jewish people from Berlin and Brandenburg researched the history of famous Jewish Berliners and dealt with their biographies. Other programs in Berlin include exhibitions, lectures, leadership courses and youth education in the form of painting and theater workshops.
North Rhine-Westphalia (Duisburg)
The Janusz Korczak House in Duisburg opened in 2016 and has been coordinating the academy's activities in North Rhine-Westphalia ever since. In close cooperation with the Jewish community of Duisburg-Mülheim / Ruhr-Oberhausen, the educational and cultural program is currently still being developed.
Programs and projects
Since the beginning of the 2015/16 academic year, the Academy has published a joint annual program booklet for all locations in virtual and printed form once a year. The program includes all events that are organized as part of the company's own activities in Munich, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia or in which the Academy is involved as a partner or co-host. Since it was founded in 2009, the academy's program has diversified and expanded many times.
Exhibitions
There are art and photo exhibitions four to six times a year on the premises of the Academy. Mostly works by Jewish artists are shown, with migration experiences from, for example, the Soviet Union or to Israel being the focus. Occasionally this exhibition also takes place in cooperation with other cultural institutions, such as the exhibition 500 Years of the Ghetto in Venice - A Search for Traces in October 2016 (in cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Munich) or the photo exhibition The Place To Be , the photos of Janusz -Korczak School in Petach Tikwa , Israel , showed which of its students with learning disabilities had been admitted. Exhibitions organized by the Academy are rarely shown in other locations.
Gesher
Although the academy was founded as an educational institution, from the beginning it placed particular emphasis on interreligious and intercultural work, the events of which were soon grouped under the label Gesher ( Hebrew "bridge"). Gesher organizes a. a. Lectures, exhibitions and joint events with various cooperation partners, etc. a. various Alevi and Yazidi associations.
Jewish center for media literacy
The JZMK was founded in 2013 as the first such Jewish institution in German-speaking countries to professionalize its work in the media sector . Based on the English concept of so-called media literacy , skills should be imparted in both active and passive use of the media and Jewish voices and perspectives in the public discourse of German-speaking countries should be strengthened. A central component of the activity is the professionalization of media work in and outside the communities as well as the fight against anti-Semitism and hostility to Israel.
One of the regular events of the JZMK is the annual media day, which takes place every spring. In addition, the center is currently running the MediaWatch projects , in the context of which anti-Semitism and hostility to Israel are observed in the German press landscape, and Rent a Jew , which provides Jewish speakers at schools and comparable organizations and provides information about Judaism with a look at physical reality Jewish life in Germany.
Since its establishment, the JZMK has also a. the film and magazine project Jung, Jüdisch, Bayerisch (2014/15) and the traveling exhibition EXODUS - Europe without Jews? who since 2015 u. a. was seen in the Bavarian state parliament.
Mishpacha
The Jewish Family Center Mishpach was founded by Lydia Bergida in 2010 and managed until 2015. Mishpacha initially offered events for the whole family at irregular intervals, but now six times a year, specifically addressing both the long-established Jewish population of Munich and the surrounding area and Israeli families who have only recently or only temporarily been living in Munich. Activities often focus on Jewish holidays, especially those that are particularly interesting for children , such as Purim and Hanukkah . The family center has been managed by Elena Graetz since 2015.
Nevatim College
After the cooperation partner of the academy, the Jewish Agency for Israel , launched the Nevatim program ( Hebrew : Nevatim: "Sprossen") in 2012 for the ideal and financial support of educational projects and related grassroots initiatives of young Jewish initiators, the Academy has been offering the Nevatim program since 2014 . Kolleg offers a one-year preparatory course that provides those interested with a project idea with the skills for planning and implementation. For this purpose, three weekend seminars and several seminars take place throughout the year. Participation in the biennial Nevatim College is jointly certified by the Academy and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Janusz Korczak Prize for Humanity
With the Janusz Korczak Prize for Humanity, the European Janusz Korczak Academy has honored personalities, institutions or organizations who are particularly concerned with the promotion of human and children's rights, peaceful conflict resolution and the fight against hatred, violence and misanthropy since 2017 deserved. The first recipient of the award is the North Rhine-Westphalian judge Jan-Robert von Renesse .
Web links
- Website of the European Janusz Korczak Academy
- Elisa Holz: "You have to talk to each other". In: www.sueddeutsche.de. February 6, 2017, accessed August 23, 2018 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Katrin Diehl: Honoring a busy man. In: www.juedische-allgemeine.de. July 5, 2018, accessed August 23, 2018 .