Slovenia joins celebration of Jewish culture
Šalovci, 31 August - European Days of Jewish Culture are getting under way in Slovenia on Saturday with an event by the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in front of the Šalovci town hall in the northeast of the country. Taking place in several Slovenian towns until November, the festival this year focuses on the family as the central theme.
Maribor
Maribor Synagogue.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
The opening event will see a performance by pupils of the Šalovci Primary School and Yiddish music singers from Vienna. Inside the municipal building, the life and activities of Jewish families in the Šalovci municipality will be presented and TV Slovenija journalist and anchor Igor E. Bergant will moderate a discussion with researcher Mark Krenn and writer Dušan Šarotar.
Later the Domanjševci homestead will feature Jewish music concerts, opening with chansons performed by singer Vita Mavrič and the Akord Quartet. Children from the bilingual kindergarten in Domanjševci will also perform at the event, called Almonds and Raisins.
The evening will wrap up with a concert by Isabel Frey from Vienna and the Styrian Klezmore Orchestra from Graz. The event will be addressed by Sonja Reiser-Weinzettl, director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Ljubljana.
The Maribor Synagogue will hold open day on Sunday to kick off festivities in Maribor. Slovenia's second largest city will hold events marking European Days of Jewish Culture until 17 October.
Events to celebrate the festival in September and October are also being organised in Murska Sobota, Negova, Oplotnica, Lendava and Ptuj.
European Heritage Days were launched in 1985 by the Council of Europe, and in 1999 by the EU. The festival is held every September in the countries that are party to the European Cultural Convention.