Become the Guardian of a City!
The Virtual Shtetl website can provide you with the exceptional opportunity to take part in the important work of documenting and portraying the centuries-old history of the Jews in central and eastern Europe. It doesn't matter where you live or what you do. By becoming a donor, you’ll be helping us to preserve the history and to tell the story of a city, town or village that is meaningful to you and your family.
Through creation of the Virtual Shtetl portal, the Jewish Historical Association in Poland and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews have been able to create and expand the largest Jewish history database in all of Poland. For a few years now, we have been collecting extraordinary archival material and photographic documentation. We have also engaged in local projects aiming at the protection and promotion of Jewish heritage. We have also served as an important source of information regarding Jewish cultural life in contemporary Poland. Last but not least, the Virtual Shtetl portal is a state-of-the-art educational tool.
The presence of the Virtual Shtetl on the Internet makes it possible for Poles to learn and comprehend the history and cultural heritage of their home country with a greater insight. On the other hand, it also helps Jews of Polish origin, who throughout the world, to discover their roots anew.
This project has been developed thanks to commitment of a small professional team. In addition, more than one hundred volunteers have contributed their effort and support of the project. Also, a large amount of feedback has been received from many portal users who have decided to share their knowledge, photographs and memories with us.
Today, the Virtual Shtetl portal offers you a unique oppportunity to contribute to and keep this mission alive through taking care of a specific town, city or village. If you feel specially attached to any location, if the town was once home to your ancestors, if you live there now or if you simply would like to preserve the memory of its multicultural history and heritage, or for any other reason, we can do it together!
Through a little financial support in the form of a donation, you will have the opportunity to assume special responsibility for the maintenance of such a city, town or village, supported by our researchers and the rest of our professional team. One donation will enable the publishing of a description of the Jewish history of your specified city, town or village on our portal – in Polish and English. Five donations will be sufficient to complete comprehensive research into all available historical sources. The funds will also cover the costs of a documentation and research field trips and archive searches, the results of which will be translated into English and will be available online.
We also welcome your own ideas on how we can work together.
Should you decide to support our project by giving at least one donation, you will be honoured as a “City Guardian” on a Virtual Shtetl page relating to your specified city, town or village. Here, you’ll be able to publish a dedication to your family or write a few words about the motivation that has moved you to join our project. You will be this location’s eternal “Guardian’ and, as such, we will keep you updated with regards to everything we have done, researched, discovered, described or photographed in the Web section related to your location. You will be able to keep track of important events regarding your town, the entire project and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Furthermore, information about your support will be published on the website honouring private donors who have supported our portal.
What can we do together in exchange for your donations?
If you make one financial contribution, the English and Polish versions of the town history will be created on the basis of available studies, databases of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and online sources. This will make it possible for the history of your town to be more colorful and may even be surprising.
Through a second donation, the text will be enriched with the results of archive searches in central Warsaw archives and the archive of the Jewish Historical Institute. Through archive documents, the history of your town may turn out to be more colorful and surprising.
In exchange for a third donation, our researchers will visit the specified city, town or village in order to document all places and sites related to the history of the local Jewish community. They will photograph of significant places where the everyday life of the local community was thriving. Perhaps one of your ancestors belonged to this now non-existent community? The researchers will also try to interview the locals who still remember pre-war times. Consequently, a contrast will be drawn between the past and the present day. New materials will facilitate the comparison between what has been preserved, the content of the historical sources and the image of the town that emerges from the memories of the locals.
A fourth donation will cover the costs of researching archives outside of Warsaw, which, in turn, will result in providing more information. It is worth noting that new facts and details may often be found only in local collections, which are rarely visited by historians. This donation will contribute to the creation of a most comprehensive historical description of your city, town or village.
Your fifth donation will enable the purchase of the most interesting archival materials, including pictures, documents and accounts which were found by us during the archival investigation. The money will also guarantee us the right to publish the materials on our portal. Who knows, maybe you will recognize some of your relatives or friends in the materials.
Why wait? Become a “Guardian” of your city, town or village today!
Join us, so that we can develop the Virtual Shtetl together!
By bank transfer to the following bank account:
Stowarzyszenie Żydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce
Ul. Tłomackie 3/5
00-090 Warszawa
NIP: 526-030-80-22
REGON: 000806795
KRS: 0000020904
bank account number: PL88 1240 1037 1111 0010 2770 1392
Bank Pekao S.A.
The cost of one donation certificate is 600 USD, 450 EUR, 380 GBP.
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