The Memory that Reclaims

The village of Bir’im, located in the Upper Galilee in the Safed district, was once a Maronite-Christian village. In 1948, following the declaration of the state, the residents of the village were asked to leave their homes for only two weeks, under the claim that the village was situated in a militarily dangerous area. The promise was that they would be able to return at the end of those two weeks, but the temporary departure turned into a prolonged exile. Since then, the residents and their descendants have been prevented from returning to their village.

Nevertheless, the community has never given up its connection to the place. Through the physical preservation of the remains, cultural commemoration, and stories of the past, Bir’im has remained alive in the collective memory of the village’s people. The generations born after the expulsion came to know the village through family stories, art, and activities held there, especially the summer camps, which served as both a tangible and metaphorical bridge between history and the present.

I am part of those families. My family, like many others, was uprooted from Bir’im but always saw it as their home. Although I grew up in Haifa, my identity has always been rooted in this place, in the stories I was told, and in the feelings that arose within me on every visit. In my childhood, I took part in the summer camps held in Bir’im, where I came to know the village not as ruins but as a living place, still present in the community’s memory and presence. For me, Bir’im is not only a historical site but also an essential part of my identity and the community’s collective struggle for historical justice.

The project seeks to design a communal return to the village of Bir’im and, through it, to reweave the social fabric and create a connection between collective memory and the tangible space, while realizing historical justice.