The influence of great history on the fate of Jews in the Shoah on the example of Miroslav
The impact of great history on the fate of Jews during the Shoah, using Miroslav as an example Wednesday 9 October at 6 pm For Jews in the South Moravian border region, the war began in the autumn of 1938, when they lost their homes, positions and property in a short time after the German Reich seized the border region. Most of them fled to the interior, especially to Brno and Prague, where an uncertain future awaited them. This was usually fulfilled in the form of later transports. Among the refugees were also Jews from Miroslav, which was one of the traditional 52 Jewish communities in Moravia. In the middle of the 19th century, over 800 people formed the local Jewish community. Until 1924 it was an independent political community. Before the outbreak of World War II, the number of Miroslav Jews was less than 300, half of whom lived outside the original ghetto. At this time, Jews were a solid part of Miroslav's colourful image, which consisted of the Czech and German languages and the Catholic, Evangelical and Jewish religions. The Jews of Miroslav were not only merchants, but also farmers, doctors and teachers. Several families owned local businesses and were among the major employers. When we examine in detail the fate of individual families in Miroslav during the Shoah, we discover how surprisingly diverse they were. Through specific stories, we can document the situations to which the Nazi persecution exposed its victims and how these victims reacted to them. The programme was prepared by Aleš Bednařík, who has lived in Miroslav since 1999. Since then, he has been privately researching the fate of Miroslav's Shoah victims with varying intensity. He is employed in the field of information technology. He studied computer science and sociology at Charles University in Prague. He will be debated by historian Táňa Klementová. Admission is voluntary. source: Yad Vashem/Collections/Photos/Misslitz, Czechoslovakia, family photograph next to the Donath family house, 1928/Carmit Sagie Collection/10469/10
Drawings from Terezín - Diary of Gisela Rottonara
Drawings from Terezín - Gisela Rottonara's Diary Monday 23 September at 6 pm Immediately after her deportation to the Terezín ghetto in July 1942, the almost 70-year-old Viennese painter Gisela Rottonara began documenting her surroundings in a cartoon diary. On the pages of her notebook she recorded her impressions, the corners of Terezín and the faces of the people. After less than six months in the ghetto, she died. However, the diary with the drawings lives on thanks to a fellow prisoner, to whom she entrusted it before her death. Please accept our invitation to the opening of Gisela Rottonara's drawings, which will be presented to the Czech audience for the first time. The exhibition is on loan from the Institut für Jüdische Geschichte Österreichs
Places where the Moravian Torah Scrolls were at home - end of the exhibition with Sheila Pallay
The Places Where the Moravian Torah Scrolls Were At Home - Closing of the Exhibition with Sheila Pallay Tuesday, September 17, 6 p.m. What do the places where the Moravian scrolls came from look like today, and how is the paradigm of the commemorative Torah scrolls that were forcibly collected in Prague in the 1940s and sold to London in 1964 changing? American photographer Sheila Pallay, accompanied by genealogist Julius Müller, toured these sites. In a joint interview with you, she will revisit the encounters she had with the places and the people. She will also present the book Light from Behind the Shadows, which was written as a result of their journey together. And, as they themselves write in the introduction to the book - This book is dedicated to those members of the Czech Jewish community who had the foresight to save the Torah scrolls and place them in a safe place. Without their efforts, these scrolls would have been destroyed forever. And also to those who were instrumental in saving the synagogues, because, in their opinion, it was "the right thing to do." Without them, our journey would never have taken place. Discussion in English with English translation. Admission is voluntary.
Involvement of the Protectorate Police in the Persecution and Deportation of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia - lecture by Austrian historian Niklas Perzi
The involvement of the Protectorate Police in the persecution and deportation of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia - lecture by Austrian historian Niklas Perzi Monday 24 June at 6 pm Historians and scholars have long portrayed the persecution, dispossession, deportation and murder of Czech and Moravian Jews as actions initiated and carried out exclusively by the German occupiers. Some contemporary scholars, such as Wolf Gruner or Benjamin Frommer, have already corrected this picture and traced the role of various institutions and authorities in the Protectorate - both Czech and ethnically German - from the president and central government and provincial officials to district authorities. Following on from the above, historian Niklas Perzi's lecture will focus on the extent to which the Protectorate's security forces were involved not only in deportations but also in the enforcement of anti-Jewish laws and regulations and in the search for and arrest of Jews. We will see that at virtually every stage of the persecution, Jewish victims encountered Protectorate officials. Niklas Perzi, a historian specializing in the history of the Czech lands in the 20th century. Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Historical Migration Research (ZHMFF) at the Institute for Rural History (IGLR) in St. Pölten, co-coordinator and co-editor of the bilateral book Neighbors. The lecture will be held in German with Czech translation. Admission is voluntary. Source.
Franz Kafka - Ruth Kohn: stories of courage
Franz Kafka - Ruth Kohn: stories of courage Arnold Villa Drobného 299/26 Sunday 23 June at 4 pm The intricate life story of the Czech-German artist and her "Kafkaesque" paintings will be presented at a discussion and exhibition opening at the Arnold Villa. A discussion between historian Táňa Klementová and internationally acclaimed artist Rut Kohn (b. 1937) will recall her life and work. Rut Kohn's parents, who lived in Třebušice, which became part of the occupied Sudetenland, refused to declare their German nationality in 1938. During the communist totalitarian regime, Rut was not admitted to grammar school because of her "unsuitable class background". She married Pavel Kohn, a writer and dramaturge of the Karlovy Vary theatre, who was the only survivor of the Holocaust. For political reasons he had to leave the theatre and for years he searched in vain for a permanent job. When the Kohns managed to visit West Germany in 1967, they decided to emigrate. In Germany, Ruth Kohn began to devote herself to the visual arts. She had her first major exhibition in 1983 in Munich. This was followed by exhibitions at the Kunstsalon in Munich, in Stuttgart, as well as at the most important art fair in Basel, Switzerland, in France and, after the fall of communism, also in the Czech Republic. In 2006, she was awarded the prize of the Most Important Czech Woman in the World. The curator of the exhibition is Marie Kopecká Verhoeven. The programme is organised by the Meeting Brno festival in cooperation with the Brno City Museum and the Arnold Villa.
Japanese professor in Little Mehrin
Japanese professor in Malý Mehrin Professor Masako Shibatu from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, is researching the Holocaust in Europe - and on her journey through the countries of Central Europe, she stopped by Malý Mehrin.
New 3D exhibition in the basement open!
New 3D exhibition in the basement open! From Tuesday 14 May Holograms of ritual objects from the Mikulov funeral fraternity Chevra Kadisha, a Purim mask in 3D form found in the genii of the Holešov synagogue, the opportunity to fold a Torah shield on an interactive touch screen and light candles at Shabbat dinner... this is just part of what you can see here. Visit a unique epicenter! Please note the change in opening hours on Wednesdays, now 2-6pm!
Brno Museum Night
Brno Museum Night Saturday 18 May from 6 pm to midnight We have joined a number of organisations and institutions that are offering their open doors to all those who are curious. Come and visit for free our somewhat unusual museum space, which has just opened a new exhibition of objects in 3D resolution! Holograms of ritual objects from Mikulov's Chevra Kadisha burial fraternity, a Purim mask in 3D found in the genizah of the Holešov synagogue, the opportunity to fold a Torah shield on your own on an interactive touch screen and to light candles at Shabbat dinner... this is just part of what you can see here. You will learn about the winning exhibition design for the future MEHRIN Museum or the current exhibition On the Places Where Moravian Torah Scrolls Were Once at Home; 1942-1964-2019.
Jewish cemeteries and burial rituals
Jewish Cemeteries and Funeral Rituals Café Kaprál, Údolní 17, Brno Tuesday 14 May at 7 pm Jaroslav Achab Haidler has written a beautiful, fascinating book Jewish Cemeteries and Burials, published in 2019 by Grada. The book has been long awaited because many people knew what Achab has been intensely involved in for at least fifteen years: translating tombstones in Jewish cemeteries in Bohemia and Moravia. There are almost three hundred and fifty of these preserved cemeteries. About one hundred and fifty thousand tombstones! And we invited Ahab to speak about his passion on November 16th in the beautiful setting of Café Kapral. Achab himself calls such meetings with the audience lectures, but anyone who has ever experienced such a "lecture" knows that it is a completely original performance (Achab is, after all, an actor and a long-time director of the theatre in Ústí nad Labem), during which we learn much more than the title suggests. Moreover, Achab does not just impart information, although there is no shortage of that either: his "teaching" reaches people's hearts, as if he knew exactly where each of us has them. Rescheduled programme from November 2023.
About the places where Moravian Torah scrolls were once at home; 1942-1964-2019
About the places where Moravian Torah scrolls were once at home; 1942-1964-2019 Malý Mehrin from May 6 at 6 p.m. opening of a new exhibition The collection of Torah scrolls from Czech and Moravian synagogues was collected in Prague in 1942. The majority of this unique collection was sold in 1964 to London, where an Endowment Fund (MST) was established to commemorate the vanished Jewish communities in pre-war Czechoslovakia. What the places where the Moravian scrolls came from look like today, and how the paradigm of Torah memorial scrolls is slowly changing, this exhibition, along with a brief historical introduction, will suggest.
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