Interim reply to Recommendation 1291 (1996) on Yiddish culture

Communication from the Committee of Ministers

Doc. 7850

24 June 1997

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 June 1997 at the 596th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies

 

1.The Committee of Ministers welcomes the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of Recommendation 1291 (1996) on Yiddish culture, which it regards as a contribution to the Council of Europe's work on minorities issues and to the work on combating racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and intolerance.

 

2.At the Vienna Summit, the Heads of State and Government declared their attachment to Europe's common cultural heritage enriched by its diversity. The destruction or disappearance of a culture always represents an impoverishment of the European cultural identity. Hence the importance to be given to the duty of memory and to promoting knowledge of endangered languages and cultures, in order to preserve and strengthen cultural pluralism in Europe.

 

3.In this context the Committee of Ministers requested the opinion of the Council for Cultural Co-operation (CDCC) and of its specialised committees on this Recommendation. This opinion appears in the appendix.

 

4.The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the following suggestions:

  1. the return of Jewish cultural property to Yiddish academic institutions from which it was taken during the Second World War

  2. the creation of university chairs in the Yiddish language

  3. measures to help Yiddish artists and writers to become integrated into existing networks

  4. support for the translation and dissemination of Yiddish cultural works

  5. inclusion of the history of European Jewish culture in manuals on European history.

 

5.The Committee of Ministers has taken note of the proposals from the Government of Lithuania concerning:

  1. the holding, in Vilnius, in autumn 1997, of a conference on Yiddish culture under the auspices of the Council of Europe

  2. providing facilities for the possible setting up of a "laboratory for dispersed ethnic minorities".

 

6.The Committee of Ministers informs the Parliamentary Assembly that it has already adopted, through its Steering Group on Confidence Building Measures, a considerable number of inter-cultural projects concerning dispersed minorities.

 

7.The Committee of Ministers believes that the proposal to create such a "laboratory", which will mainly be culturally-oriented, warrants detailed consideration. It has requested opinions from the CDMG, from the CDDH and from the ECRI, with regard to the aims and functions of the laboratory and, if appropriate, the arrangements for setting it up. In their discussions, these committees are invited to bear in mind the following considerations:

 

8.The Committee of Ministers has taken note that the Conference, which will be organised in Vilnius in Autumn 1997 as a contribution to the implementation of the Parliamentary Assembly's Recommendation, will also be an opportunity to discuss in more detail the proposed laboratory.

 

Appendix

Opinion of the CDCC on Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1291 (1996) on Yiddish Culture

 

1.The CDCC welcomes Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1291 (1996). Yiddish shares the fate of other minority cultures, the practice of which has declined through the overwhelming presence of neighbouring languages and cultures. The case of Yiddish, however, stands out both because of the cross-national character of its culture and of the genocide that is at the roots of its decline.

 

2.Within the Council of Europe framework, there are already several legal instruments aimed at the protection of minority cultures and languages, in particular the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Charter on Regional and Minority Languages. In fact, some of the proposals in the Recommendation are best considered in relation with both the implementation and the monitoring of these two conventions.

 

3.The CDCC fully supports the contention that democratic stability in Europe depends on the acceptance by public authorities and individual citizens of a pluralistic system of cultural values. Appropriate action in the fields of education and culture can no doubt contribute to this end. Bearing in mind these considerations, the opinion of the CDCC on the various recommendations made in paragraph 9 of the Parliamentary Assembly text is as follows:

 

� 9.i    The issue raised in this paragraph is dealt with in the Declaration on the political dimension of cultural heritage conservation in Europe adopted at the IVth European Conference of Ministers responsible for the cultural heritage (Helsinki, 30-31 May 1996). The Declaration solemnly expresses commitment to the values inherent in the heritage that facilitate mutual recognition and reflect Europe-wide links which transcend mere differences between its peoples. It is also stressed that the concept of "common cultural heritage" should lead individuals and communities to acknowledge shared responsibility for protecting this heritage regardless of its nature of physical location or the vicissitudes of its political context.

Acting on the texts adopted at the Conference, the Committee of Ministers, at its 573rd meeting at Deputies' level (9-11 September 1996) asked the Cultural Heritage Committee (CC-PAT) to consider "the modalities for establishing a procedure for preserving and upgrading built heritage assets and archaeological sites that reflects the cultural diversity which has emerged over history within a given territory, irrespective of the present-day political context of that territory".

The specific theme of Yiddish culture might also be used by the regions concerned as a specific example of heritage to illustrate in work concerned with its identification and upgrading (inventories, documentation, publications) and with the stimulation of awareness (European Heritage Days, European classes).

 

� 9.ii    The establishing of university chairs specialising in teaching and research on regional and minority languages and cultures - including Yiddish culture - would, no doubt, contribute to the preservation and development of cultural and linguistic plurality in Europe and to the acceptance of this plurality. In this perspective, the CDCC - and more specifically the Higher Education and Research Committee - could, within the limits of existing resources, and at the request of interested authorities, provide technical support to initiatives taken in member States to this end.

 

� 9.iii    The Culture Committee will endeavour to help Yiddish artists, writers, and research and cultural centres to join the cultural networks with which it has developed partnerships. However, in the present budgetary situation, the possibility for the CDCC to establish a specific scholarship scheme for artists and writers from minority cultures, including Yiddish, has to be ruled out.

 

� 9.iv    The CDCC supports the idea of holding a conference (preferably in co-operation with the European Union) for the purpose of co-ordinating the activities of academic centres concerned with regional and minority languages and cultures, including Yiddish. It must be pointed out, however, that the organisation of such a major event is not possible within the current budget of the CDCC.

 

� 9.v    The CDCC, through the activities of the Culture Committee concerning "books and archives" and the "protection of the audiovisual heritage", and within the limits of existing resources, is willing to provide technical support to initiatives taken in member States aimed at encouraging translation and dissemination of Yiddish texts and the preservation and/or restoration of old films of Yiddish origin.

Furthermore, through its Consultants' Group on Art Exhibitions, it is willing to consider the feasibility of an exhibition on Yiddish culture which could be placed under the auspices of the Council of Europe. This would involve the identification of a country and of one (or more) museum(s) willing to organise and host such an exhibition. Should such a proposal receive the approval, in principle, of the Committee of Ministers, contacts could be made, for example, with the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam which was recently awarded the European Museum Prize and which might be interested in such a venture.

 

� 9.vi    The CDCC, and its Education Committee more specifically, understand and agree with the thinking which lies behind paragraph 9 (vi) of Recommendation 1291. On the other hand, it would like to point out that in many - if not most - member States, Ministries of Education cannot instruct educational publishers or textbook authors to deal with specific questions of content. To ensure that publishers and textbook authors are aware of the Parliamentary Assembly's proposal, the Education Committee has drawn the attention of the European Educational Publishers' Group and the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook

Research to Recommendation 1291 and the accompanying report. Both texts have also been brought to the notice of:

  1. the "History" Working Party of the Council of Europe's NGO Liaison Group on Education;

  2. the European Standing Conference of History Teachers' Associations (EUROCLIO) and its 30 member associations.

In its earlier Resolution on "The Jewish Contribution to European Culture", the Parliamentary Assembly recognised "the very considerable and distinctive contribution that Jews and the tradition of Judaism have made to the historical development of Europe" (Resolution 885 (1987)). The Education Committee is convinced that young people should be aware of this contribution. This can be achieved through:

  1. several subjects in school curricula, in particular history, philosophy, literature and multi-faith religious education;

  2. extra-curricular activities involving contacts between schools on the one hand and memorial sites, museums, archives and religious institutions on the other.

The Education Committee would like to recall that the Jewish contribution to European history has been considered on several occasions during the Council of Europe's work on history teaching and history textbooks, in particular during:

  1. the cycle of six conferences on history textbooks which were organised between 1953 and 1957;

  2. the Symposium on "Religion in School History Textbooks in Europe" (Louvain, September 1972);

  3. the Symposium on "Mutual Understanding and the Teaching of European History" (Prague, October 1995). A case-study on "The Jews of Prague", which was presented to the Symposium, will be published soon.

As part of its Project, "A Secondary Education for Europe", the Education Committee has commissioned the preparation of a practical booklet, for teachers, on "The Holocaust in the School Curriculum: a European Perspective". This initiative was inspired by:

  1. the European Youth Campaign against Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism and Intolerance;

  2. the Committee's concern at the attempts to deny the Holocaust by negationist writers and extremist organisations.

This concern will be reflected in any recommendations on history teaching which the Education Committee will submit, for adoption, to the Committee of Ministers' Deputies and/or the 19th Session of the Standing Conference of the European Ministers of Education (Kristiansand, Norway, 22-24 June 1997).

In this context, the Education Committee has noted with considerable interest the Seminar on "Teaching the Shoah", which was held in Poland from 16-20 September 1996. It was organised by the European Centre for Research and Action on Racism and Antisemitism (CERA) and brought together 70 history teachers from 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Each of the participants received a copy of Recommendation 1291 and the accompanying report.

 

� 9.vii    The proposal for the creation of a "laboratory for dispersed ethnic minorities" with a mandate to protect and promote minority languages and cultures, through legislation and other measures, deserves close consideration. Thus, at the same time as replying to the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers might deem it useful to ask for the opinions of the other intergovernmental bodies which, within the Council of Europe, deal with the protection of dispersed ethnic minorities, or the protection of minorities in general. Such a laboratory could be instrumental in disseminating the standard-setting work of the Council of Europe mentioned in paragraph 2 above and giving a concrete dimension to the work on minority and regional languages. With the use of new technologies and making the best possible use of the Council of Europe work on language learning and teaching, attractive reference course materials could be prepared allowing new generations to learn these minority languages. In particular the Education Committee could be entrusted with the elaboration of an instrument for the specification of objectives for the learning of Yiddish and the development of teaching materials. Moreover, the member States of the Council of Europe, and in particular the contracting parties to the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages could be invited to implement the principles of article 7 paragraph 5, as foreseen for non-territorial languages, with regard to the Yiddish language. It is evident, however, that the plan to create a "laboratory for dispersed ethnic minorities" could benefit also of and put to the best possible use the results of the Council of Europe's activities concerning gypsies.