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Sprachsplitter. Auf den Spuren einer zerstörten Sprachkultur.
Start date: Jun 17, 2014, End date: Dec 16, 2014 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Shards of a language. On the trails of a destroyed cultural heritage. 60 young people from Germany, Israel and Russia, mostly with a migrant background, try to explore the current problems of multicultural and multilingual societies by investigating the history of Yiddish language and culture. The participants come from different language, cultural and religious groups. They are children from not only three different countries, but from several ethnic and cultural milieus, such as: Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian, German, Turkish, etc. backgrounds. These young people are in the process of establishing a sense of identity and critically exploring the challenges of successful integration. They bother whether to maintain or to reject the culture and language of their own families. They are facing irrevocable and significant life decisions. In order to avoid the disappearance of minority languages, the multilingualism of young Europeans and Israelis should be supported. It should be explained to the young people that the mother tongue doesn’t only provide an additional culture, but it brings a lot of benefits. For instance, mastering of the first language offers more learning and job opportunities. Consequently, it is of considerable advantage to society if many people are multilingual. During the youth meeting the 13-16 year old participants discover through informal creative forms of learning the rich heritage of European Jewry: Yiddish Culture (Klezmer music, literature, theatre, film, dance and painting). Young people deal with Yiddish, once the language of the Jews of Europe, and with the historical events of the development and the disappearance of Yiddish language and culture in Europe, in Israel and in the former USSR. Participants choose creative workshops according to their interests and abilities and create together with other youngsters a Klezmer Band or a theatre play. They participate in literary evenings, in painting workshops and film their own movies based on the Yiddish culture and history. Through the prism of the history of a vanished language it will be learnt how unique any culture can be. The main education forms which are used in the youth exchange are creative workshops and master classes with invited artists. Due to different informal methods young participants benefit from a wide range of positive effects including development of creativity and language skills, better self-expression, appreciation of art and music and enriched personal satisfaction with their performances. Young people develop a more accurate awareness of self and heighten awareness of and provide practice in the skills of interpersonal communication. Participants’ interest for the European cultural diversity and history will be strengthened; the knowledge of new languages will be developed; stereotypes and prejudices will be critically analysed. The abilities of young people to live together in a pluralistic society as well as their creative skills will be developed. On the final evening, the "Yiddish Bazar", the participants will present the full range of Yiddish culture through their works: plays, dances, group and solo singing, poems, films, drawings and paintings. To the end of the youth meeting all participants will get self-made German-Russian-English-Hebrew-Yiddish dictionaries which will include sayings and proverbs. They will also get a CD, self-made postcards as well as by the youth prepared booklet with photos and comments on the schedule and the events as a reminder of the youth exchange. The meeting with native Yiddish speakers will show the teenagers that the decisions and efforts of every single individual can keep an endangered language and a culture alive. This awareness should strengthen the willingness of the young participants to take responsibility for the future of our society by protecting their cultural heritage, including languages, cultural traditions, and religion.
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