South Wales community gets £54,200 lottery grant to trace Shoah victims’ stories
Project seeks to create 'a digital Cardiff Jewish heritage trail' to archive the history of the long-established but dwindling community
The small Jewish community in South Wales has been given a £54,200 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to trace the stories of Holocaust victims with links to the area.
In addition to the Lottery money, the Jewish History Association of South Wales (JHASW) got an extra £3,000 through crowdfunding for its tracing project.
Those named on the Cardiff Reform Synagogue Memorial Tablet, which was erected in memory of relatives of synagogue members who died in the Holocaust and whose graves are unknown, will now have their stories told.
The idea is to create “a digital Cardiff Jewish heritage trail” and upload it to the ‘Walking Jewish History’ phone app.
JHASW also wants to identify Jewish material stored with Rhondda Cynon Taf museums, improve the existing records by adding new interpretations, digitise the material, and share it on People’s Collection Wales.
“We’re very grateful to receive again financial support from Lottery Players and the financial backing of our other supporters,” said project manager Klavdija Erzen.
The 16-month project, which started last month and runs until January 2021, also includes plans to build “a heritage preservation toolkit” to help those with no previous experience of heritage projects.
JHASW secretary Stanley Soffa said: “I was absolutely delighted at the speed with which the National Lottery Heritage Fund considered and approved our application. To everyone who contributed to our crowdfunding appeal I give my personal thanks. These are exciting times.”
Read more:
- ‘From Holyhead to Wrexham’, academic in bid to save north Wales’ Jewish heritage
- Charity fights to preserve memory of Wales’ fading Jewish life
- Jewish historians in Wales get £40k National Lottery boost for heritage project
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
