XIII International Interreligious Youth Seminar arch starts on July 3

The opening of the XIII International Interreligious Youth Seminar “Ark” (“Kovcheh”) of 2018 took place on July 3, 2018, at 11.00. at the Center for the Peace and Reunification of the Parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Bilshivtsi (Ivano-Frankivsk region).

The solemn closing will take place on July 10, 2018, at 12.00, at the General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Lviv (Ivan Franko St. 108).

Participating in the seminar will be over 40 people, citizens of Ukraine of different nationalities – Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and Crimean Tatars.

The idea of the Ark: young people, who will soon constitute a new Ukrainian elite, guided by the prominent scholars, philosophers and public figures will learn through the workshop about the historical and cultural aspects of each nation, discuss their implications, seek ways to overcome historical conflicts that are still obstructing the interethnic dialogue.

The program of the seminar “Ark” traditionally consists of several sections:

• Educational section – a block of lectures and seminars conducted by Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish and Crimean Tatar scientists, thus representing a variety of views on important and interesting issues of history and culture;

• Interactive section – disputes, round tables, workshops, psychological and integration trainings;

• The national and cultural presentations – in the format of Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish and the Crimean Tatar thematic days, the participants of the seminar creatively demonstrate the peculiarities and surprises in national traditions and cultures, teaching also representatives of other national communities.

• The participants of the "Ark" will be captured by a real fireworks display of Ukrainian, Polish, Jewish and Crimean Tatar folk ceremonies, dances, songs, games, historical narratives, etc .;

• Integration training – classes aimed at bringing together representatives of different nationalities and confessions, their adaptation, and integration;

• Trip to Poland – this year, the youth will visit the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which became a symbol of terror, genocide and Holocaust for the world. It was created by the Germans in the middle of 1940 in the suburbs of Oswiecim, which was included by the Nazis to the Third Reich. The participants of the seminar will also visit the city of Oswiecim, where they will get acquainted with the Jewish cultural life before the Second World War and the Roman heritage.

The organizers of the workshop are as follows:

• General Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Lviv
• Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv
• Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies "Tkuma" in Dnipri
• Lviv City Palace of Culture named after. Hnat Khotkevich
• Public organization "Crimea SOS"
• Federation of Polish Organizations in Ukraine.

To implement the seminar program scientists and public figures from Ukraine, Poland were invited, including, among the others:

• Joseph Zisels, human rights activist, dissident, co-president of Vaad Ukraine, executive vice president of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine (Ukraine),
• Rafał Wolski, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Lviv (Poland),
• Justyna Kszanovska, Authorized Representative of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, Department for the Examination of Proceedings at the International Human Rights Bodies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (Poland),
• Professor Myroslav Marynovych, Vice-Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University (Ukraine)
• Dr. Igor Schupak, Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies “Tkuma”
• and the Museum “Memory of the Jewish people and the Holocaust in Ukraine” (Ukraine),
• Ilmi Umerov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people (Ukraine)
• Alim Aliyev, Co-Founder of the Crimea SOS Initiative, (Ukraine).

The closing ceremony will take place on July 10: Rafal Wolski, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Lviv, Oksana Guz, Director of Gnat Khotkevich Lviv City Palace of Culture, Igor Shchupak, Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies “Tkuma” and the Museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine” (Dnipro), Ali Aliev, Program Director of the State Enterprise “Crimean House” and co-founder of the Civic Organization Crimean Tatar Cultural Center “Crimean House” in Lviv.

The seminar “Ark” has been held since 2006. For the five consecutive years, it had taken place at the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra of the Studite Rite, where during the Second World War priests and monks of the Greek Catholic Church under the leadership of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky and his brother Archimandrite Klimentiy Sheptytsky saved Jewish children from the Holocaust's flame, and also provided assistance to Ukrainian and Polish children. In subsequent years, the seminar was held at the Center for Peace and Reunification of the Parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Bilshivtsi (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast). From 2015 to 2017, the Seminar again was hosted by the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra of the Studite Rite. This year the seminar is back to Bilshivtsi.