Category: Uncategorized

The labyrinth of normalization in us

The Labyrinth of Normalization in Us Tuesday, December 19, 5 p.m. Martin Šmok, author of the exhibition Labyrinth of Normalization and the book of the same name at the Jewish Museum in Prague, will discuss the lasting reverberations of the normalization of anti-Jewish propaganda and its new life in the countries west of our borders. The lecture is coupled with a call to Brno historians and scholars to explore the difficult role that Brno-born Bedřich Bass took on during this period. Admission is voluntary.

E+I correspondence

Correspondence E+I Thursday, December 14 at 6 p.m. You may have already written to your Jesuits about the new audiobook of the correspondence of Voskovec and Werich, which was recently released. We take inspiration from the notorious phrase to invite you to an evening of letters exchanged across the ocean between Princeton and Brno by Messrs. Albert Einstein and Hugo Iltis. Based on correspondence from members of the Iltis family, historian Tania Klementova's lecture will recall the life story of botanist, geneticist and gifted educator Hugo Iltis (1882 Brno - Fredericksburg 1952), who made a major contribution to the rediscovery of the personality and work of Johann Gregor Mendel. At the same time, he tirelessly opposed the Nazi idea of the superiority and inferiority of the human races as its popularity grew in the second half of the 1930s. He also confirmed his belief in the dangers of the spread of racism after the war, when he demanded at the Nuremberg tribunal that scientific proponents of Nazi racial ideology be tried as war criminals. Admission is voluntary. Photo source: Albert Einstein : in his study in Princeton, New Jersey, Leo Baeck Institute, F 84514.

Jewish cemeteries and burial rituals

Jewish Cemeteries and Funeral Rituals Thursday, November 16 at 7 p.m. at Café Kaprál; Údolní 17; Brno Jaroslav Achab Haidler has written a beautiful, fascinating book Jewish Cemeteries and Burials, published in 2019 by Grada. The book was 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 talk 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 long-time director of the theatre in Ústí nad Labem), during which we will 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. Admission is voluntary.

Israel and Gaza in context

Israel and Gaza in Context Wednesday, November 1 at 6 p.m. In the second half of the month of Tishri on the Jewish calendar, the annual cycle of reading the Five Books of Moses traditionally concludes. In synagogues around the world, the scrolls are danced merrily on shoulders and a new cycle begins. On the eve of this year's Simchat Torah holiday, instead of joy, Israel is plunged into emotions of shock, fear and sadness. After fifty years, martial law has been declared in circumstances that feel like déjà vu in 1973, combined with a sense of the greatest failure in Israeli history. On Saturday 7 October, Israel was attacked by the armed wing of the Palestinian radical movement Hamas. The terrorist attack, dubbed the 'Storm of al-Aqsa', was hugely surprising in its execution, especially in its bestial brutality against Israeli civilians. The war between Hamas and Israel is becoming a global issue. Historian Eva Taterová (Institute for Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies of Mendel University in Brno) together with Libor Kutej, Director of the Institute of Intelligence Studies of the University of Defence in Brno and Vice-Rector of the University, accepted the invitation to discuss the current context of the war conflict. Admission is voluntary

Tasting of kosher wines from the Austrian winery Hafner

Tasting of kosher wines from the Austrian winery Hafner Thursday 26.10. at 6 pm. Experience a guided tasting of great kosher wines with a talk about what kosher wine is and how it is made. The tasting is guided and commented by the legendary chef of the Bratislava kosher restaurant Chez David Ladislav Polák. Again, admission is voluntary, but the event is limited to 25 participants for obvious reasons. Participation must therefore be booked by e-mail muzeum@malymehrin.cz. The first 25 registrants will then receive a confirmation email informing them that they will be able to taste. So do not hesitate to write! We look forward to seeing you!

Nora Lustig – The Destiny between Brno and Norway

Nora Lustig - Fate between Brno and Norway Wednesday 11 October at 18.00. Nora Lustigová was born in Opava in 1899, she and her husband moved to Brno, where they actively participated in cultural and social life. She was a member of the International League of Women for Peace and Freedom and actively helped refugees from Germany and Austria. Through Nansen's help, she and her sons made it to Norway, but this refuge soon became a target of the Nazi occupation. She was imprisoned, deported and murdered. Lecture doc. Miluše Juříčková from the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University reflects on the civic attitudes and legacy of Nora Lustig on the Brno-Norway axis. Admission is voluntary.

Boys from Boskovice

Boys from Boskovice Wednesday 4 October at 18.00 Our invitation to the debate was accepted by Vicky Unwin, granddaughter of the controversial writer Hermann Ungar, a native of Boskovice, friend of Thomas Mann, Berthold Brecht and Stefan Zweig. Ungar's son Thomas changed his surname to Unwin in exile. He completely separated himself from his family roots and never discussed them with his daughter. Vicky is coming to Brno to present her book Boy from Boskovice, which she published two years ago. In it, she comes to terms with her family's mysterious past and her father's contradictory personality. She will also appear at the international Ungar-Kafka literary symposium, which is taking place in Brno these days. Vicky Unwin has had a successful career in the world of books and the press, blogging about living with cancer, travel and culture. She has also been active on the subject of drug education in schools and the decriminalisation of drugs, following the loss of her daughter Louise to a ketamine overdose. The talk will be translated into English and streamed simultaneously. Admission is voluntary.  

Organ in Jewish liturgy

Organ in Jewish Liturgy Lecture by Mgr. Václav Peter Do you find it unlikely that the organ sounds during synagogue services? Are organs part of synagogues at all? And to entice you a little, perhaps we can reveal that the organ appears in the unorthodox setting of Judaism. For example, during the building of Brno's largest modern synagogue, there was a dispute between the older and younger generations of community members about their placement in the building. In the end, the melody of the organ was carried through the space. Nowadays, the organ can be heard, for example, in the Jerusalem Synagogue in Prague, but only occasionally before certain holidays. There are even concerts for the public. When was the local organ built, who built it and why is it a listed building? Who is behind the creation of music for the organ in the synagogue? What must be done in caring for the organ to keep it working well? The organist of the Jerusalem Synagogue, organist and music therapist in one person, Mr. Mgr. Václav Peter. And in order to complement his lecture with organ demonstrations, he will be accompanied by his wife, whom we had the opportunity to meet in person in May, Mrs. Zuzana Peterová, PhD. Thursday, 21 September at 6 p.m.

Fred Iltis - 100 - South and North of the Border

Fred Iltis - 100 - South and North of the Border Opening of the photography exhibition Fred Iltis (1923 Brno - 2008 San Jose) was born Willfried Gregor, the first-born son of botanist and mendeologist Hugo Iltis and his wife Anni. He entered the adult world prematurely. At the age of fifteen, he experienced the forced departure of his family to the United States in the face of the threat of Nazi persecution. He spent two and a half years serving in the army in the South Pacific. After the war, he earned a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, where he settled and taught in the biology department in San Jose. His own life's journey shaped him into a man very sensitive to minority issues, acts of injustice, and the devastation of nature. He began documenting the activities of the civil rights movement through black and white photographs. He took dozens of pictures of student protests against the war in Vietnam or of farm workers of Mexican origin for better working conditions. Fred Iltis could be funny and kind. As time went on, he simultaneously grew more pessimistic, reflecting the experiences that marked him, and a certain bitterness at the way the enthusiasm, dreams and illusions born in the 1960s were fading from society. He developed, printed and carefully archived his photographs himself at home. With a modesty all his own, he rejected his friends' proposals to display them. It was not until 2008 that he gave his consent for the exhibition Fred Iltis - South and North of the Border, which unfortunately did not live to see its opening in Milan. Symbolically, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, we present the photographic work of Fred Iltis in his hometown, where he wished to return once more. The exhibition closes on 21 December 2023.

CNFB SUPPORT

CNFB SUPPORT The Czech-German Future Fund is one of the important supporters of our activities and a major partner since 2021. We appreciate this support!