Tel Aviv Extends an Invitation to Linz09 and Vilnius09
29.06.2007Tel Aviv is looking forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2009 together with Linz09 and Vilnius09.
The city of Tel Aviv will be 100 years old in 2009. Plans for a birthday party are already in the works, and that year's two capitals of culture, Linz and Vilnius, have been invited to make the festivities a joint venture. Linz09’s Ulrich Fuchs and Vilnius09 Programme Director Sandra Adomaviciute have been in Tel Aviv since June 28 for preparatory talks with Dror Amir, general director of the Centennial Year Administration, Avigdor Levin, director of culture and arts of the City of Tel Aviv, and Ben-Ami Ehrlich, Tel Aviv’s international relations officer.In addition to developing program planning concepts, the conference participants will be exploring possibilities for collaborative projects in 2009. In this connection, attention will be focused most intensely on the events of the first half of the 20th century that have formed a historical bond among these three cities. Vilnius, Linz and Tel Aviv each played a significant role in conjunction with the Holocaust: Vilnius was the “Jerusalem of the North” until 1939; Linz was the “Patenstadt des Führers” and thus a major beneficiary of Adolf Hitler’s patronage; and Tel Aviv finally provided refuge for many European Jews.
