Euroasian Jewish News

Almaty Conference “Jews in Kazakhstan: Tradition, History, Culture”

The Fifth International Conference “Jews in Kazakhstan: Tradition, History, Culture”  took place in Almaty on the 28th of October. The sub-topic of the conference was “Evacuation – Resurrecting the Past.”

The day before the conference was marked by a session of the Kazakhstan People’s Assembly, which noted the republic’s successes in developing international and interfaith relationships. The merits of Alexander Baron, member of the Assembly Council, Euro-Asian Jewish Congress General Council member, President of the Kazakhstan Association of Jewish National Organizations“Mitzvah,” were appreciated highly. He received the Golden Medal of the Assembly from Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Alexander Baron invariably initiates holding the Conference, and also acts as its irreplaceable chairman. While opening the meeting, he noted a sharp increase in its geography: the conference received 31 reports from 7 countries. There were two main themes the reports had covered: evacuation to Kazakhstan during World War II and the history of Kazakhstan Jews. A number of scholars from Kazakhstan dedicated their reports to studying the place and role of Jews in the life of different regions of Kazakhstan. It is notable that researchers from Israel and the USA took a vested interest in this conference.

At the end of the conference, Alexander Baron said that the materials of the conference will be published as a separate book, and that the next conference will be held in 2012.