Viski, Latvia
31.07.-13.08.2023 (18-30 years old, international)

"The Latvian village of Višķi without a synagogue - (What's next?").
Maintaining Europe's memory and shaping the future together

Višķi is a village near Daugavpils in South-East Latvia, a wonderful area with three lakes: and also a shtetl (village). Like a thousand other smaller and larger villages and towns in Eastern Europe, where there was a flourishing landscape of Jewish life with spiritual center: the synagogue. Today in Višķi only the three visible steps on a foundation can be discovered as the remains of the synagogue, hidden under grass. A place without a synagogue - What's next?

ASF organizes this summer camp for the second time in close cooperation with the association "Drei Stufen" e.V. (Osnabrück). The work, which started in 2022, will now continue this year.

The workcamp aims to awaken interest and sensitize especially young people from different countries to the Jewish history of the Višķi shtetl as an example of the Jewish history of Latvia and Eastern Europe, in order to shape the future together. With the practical work by the participants at the site of the synagogue to uncover the foundation surface, to carry out measurements under the guidance of surveyors, to garden and clean the synagogue foundation an active sign shall be set for understanding and making visible the Jewish heritage in the small community, on the basis of which the monument will be created. The work in Višķi will be complemented by a thematic approach to the history of the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional place, as well as references to Jewish culture in Latvia in the past and present.

• Type: International summer camp, 18 – 30 years old
• Work: Excavation, Jewish history and life
• Group: 12 people
• Camp Languages: English
• Accommodation: Youth hostel in the village of Višķi near Daugavpils.