The City of Dortmund, in cooperation with the Combat Antisemitism Movement (USA) and the Center for Jewish Impact (Israel), will host this year’s European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism from 29 November to 1 December. Lord Mayor of Dortmund, Thomas Westphal, is inviting mayors from all over Europe to the conference in order to jointly discuss how to face the rise of antisemitism and foster Jewish life on a local level.
In close cooperation with the local Jewish community, the organisers have put together an exciting programme including discussion and networking opportunities as well as cultural programme features such as musical performances and the visit of an art exhibition. The entire programme is designed to facilitate an exchange of innovative approaches on how to build social cohesion and forge tolerance and understanding across all backgrounds in European cities. In this context, the City of Dortmund will highlight its own history of Jewish life, which goes back more than 1000 years and report on the close and good collaboration between the city administration and the local Jewish community. Another highlight of the conference will be a visit to Borussia Dortmund's football stadium and a closer look at the club's already long-standing and remarkable activities against antisemitism and racism.
In addition to mayors from all over Europe, representatives of the European Commission, as well as the German federal government and the state governments will attend the Summit. ECCAR also is going to participate and follow up on its presentation at the Mayors Summit against Antisemitism 2022 in the City of Athens. This year, ECCAR will be presenting the main learnings and outcomes of the training sessions conducted together with CEJI in the three ECCAR member cities Nice, Brussels and Bologna. These trainings are part of the EC-funded project of the ECCAR Working Group on Antisemitism that was initiated by the City of Dortmund in February 2022. The project follows the first-ever EU strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life and is funded by the European Commission with around 60.000 euro. Find more information about the project here.
For more information about the 2023 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism and its programme, please contact Julian Becker: jbecker@stadtdo.de.
You can find an article and video in German here and information in English on the CAM’s website here.
