The exhibition The Girls of Room 28 is this heart and the crystallization point of our Room 28 Educational project. Since 2004 it has been touring from one place to another and has been seen in over 70 places in Germany alone and in many other places outside of Germany - in the Czech Republic, Austria, Israel, Brussels (European Commission), Geneva (United Nations), Cardiff/Wales (Welsh National Opera House/Millennium Centre). In Brazil, the exhibition was created in 2014 in a new design and and shown all over the country with great success.
© Idea, Concept, Text und Images
Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick, Berlin, 2004/2023
Collaborator, supporter in 2004:
Benedikt Burkhard, Frankfurt a.M.
Graphic design
Renate Schlicht and Walter Hagenow, Wiesbaden
Rights and Management
Hannelore Brenner/ Room 28 Projects
The organisation of the exhibition is done in cooperation with Room 28 e.V.
Contact: Hannelore Brenner
Telefon: +49 (0)30 691 83 95
Image: First Panel of the exhibition
The panels use authentic documents and testimonies to illustrate the history of these girls, which is described in detail in the book The Girls of Room 28 (2004). These were girls, whose paths met in Room 28 of the Girls' Home L 410 in the Theresienstadt ghetto beween 1942 and 1944.
The exhibition was created to convey the story of these girls to young people in an appropriate medium and to give the survivors the opportunity to accompany the exhibition and use the panels to tell young people about their experiences.
The focus of the exhibition is on what is happening in Room 28, an "island in the raging sea" (quotation from Helga Pollak's diary). The exhibition reflects the everyday life of these children in the ghetto, an everyday life that already contains the core of the coming tragedy.
It tells the story of an extraordinary community and of what art and culture and education for humanity can do in an inhuman time. At the same time, one senses the abysses that overshadowed everyday life in the Theresienstadt ghetto.
The children's opera Brundibár and the story of the "Girls from Room 28" are unseparably interwoven. Brundibár, the opera by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister created in Prague in 1938 and performed more than 50 times by the young prisoners in the Theresienstadt ghetto, is today a memorial to the children who did not survive the Holocaust.
The story of Aninka and Pepiček and the organ grinder Brundibár remains inextricably linked to the fate of their first performers in the Theresienstadt ghetto, including some of the "Girls of Room 28. Photo: Panel of the exhibition.
About the forthcoming Brundibár children's book see: Current
A special site is devoted to Brundibár.
Quotation by Gabriele Nellesen:
The exhibition is in an excellent way to complement artistic projects dealing with Theresienstadt and works of art created by the Jewish artists who were interned there. Both, the excellent and versatile documentation and the very impressive replica of Room 28, contribute not only to our better understanding of historical facts; they also make us more emotionallly responsive and help us grasp the topic far more profoundly, far beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge.
In conjunction with the presentation of drawings and paintings by Theresienstadt children, the "Girls of Room 28" exhibition has widened the context of the performances of the children's opera Brundibár, greatly contributing to the lasting effect of this artistic experience.
Gabriele Nellessen. was the responsable person for Junior Projects in the Concert Hall at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. In 2010 she organized Brundibár performances and invited our exhibition and Helga Kinsky.
The flag of the "Girls of Room 28" with its symbol "Ma'agal"- Hebrew for circle, in the metaphorical sense of perfection. It was created for the foundation of their the little "Organization" in Room 28 on April 1, 1943. They also created a motto and an anthem.
Image: flag of the "Girls of Room 28"
Quotation by art-historian Dr. Christian Walda:
The exhibition was an important way for us to arouse interest in the Shoah, especially among young people. The story of the girls of Room 28 made them realize that culture is not a luxury, but the basis of our humanity.
Dr. Christian Walda was director of the Jewish Museum in Rendsburg when he invited our exhibtion to his museum in 2010. Since 2019, he has been head of collections and, since 2022, deputy director of the Museum of Art and Cultural History Dortmund.
Photo: Christian Walda, a member of Room 28, as guest at a Room 28 seminar at the Gustav Heinmann Bildungszentrum in Malente-Gremsmühlen, 2013.
When the German Bundestag showed the exhibition in January 2008 as part of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, they added a reconstruction of Room 28 as a new exhibition element and left it to our association. The following organizers of the exhibition - History Workshop Lüneburg/University of Lüneburg and the Jewish Museum Rendsburg - helped to maintain this element. Many thanks for this!
Alas - now in 2023 the question is to renew and maintain this reconstruction of to dispose of it. The assembly and disassembly of this elementha sbecome almoist impüossible. We had to thrwo away the wooden bunk-beds.
Photo: The replica of Room 28 on January 27, 2013 at the European Commission in Brussels.
Our long-term partner for the transport and storage of our exhibition is the transport and storage company zapf umzüge. This company made it possible for us to keep the exhibition, including a replica of room 28, which was handed over to our Room 28 association by the German Bundestag in 2008. the company sponsored the storage of the bulky and massive exhibition element, including the bunk beds, in a container provided especially for this purpose. The company carries out transports of the exhibition absolutely reliable and competent.
The Room 28 Educational Project is planned to be the central realm of activities of the NPO Room 28. However: the association must be put in a position to take over the management and development of this educational project and everything that goes with it, especially the maintanance and development of the exhibition, communication with schools and with people active in the field of art and culture interested in our Offers.
This means to establish an active team and secure financial support for the organization on a stable basis. So far all the work was done by me alone, including creating and writingh the connected websites. - This is why it is necessary that the process of transformation can be realized in 2023-2024.
The logo leads to the association's website. It is only in German.