My thanks go to the Federal Foreign Office of Germany for their support. The module, which I began several years ago, was repeatedly stalled due to upsetting events of the time and a lack of funds for the production. Finally, thanks to the Foreign Office, it could be completed!
Module
New Module: Historical Context
Childhood Biographies of "The Girls of Room 28"
Update: April 2024
Publication
The Girls of Room 28
Childhood Biographies in their Historical Context.
A new module
for the Room 28 Educational project (German edition)
Edition Room 28, Berlin,
May 2024
92 pages, color. With numerous illustrations.
ISBN 978-3-9819140-4-7 | Price 25 € |
Odering
A chapter of German-Czech history that has been overshadowed by German historiography, that almost got lost in the maelstrom of historical developments and has not found a place in the curriculum to this day.
What did
"The Girls of Room 28" experience
b e f o r e they were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto? What happened in their home country, the Czech Republic, when their lives were thrown off course? The new module of the Room 28 Educational Project tells the historical context in which these girls (born in 1930) grew up. It shows how the decisive events of the years 1938 to 1942 are reflected in what these girls experienced in their early childhood. The interweaving of political events and individual experiences makes it possible to experience a chapter of German-Czech history at the time of the
"Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia".
The story of "The Girls of Room 28" is more than the story of Jewish children in the Theresienstadt ghetto. It is the story of Jewish children from Czechoslovakia and Austria under Hitler's NS-regime and a chapter of our shared European history.
Much has been written about the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the last two decades. Much has become known about the fate of its inmates and their cultural achievements in the worst of times. Since the mid-1990s, there have been numerous performances of the children's opera Brundibár. Young people learn about the fate of the children of Theresienstadt, and above all about the Nazi era and the Holocaust. My old book, which was first published in 2004, also focuses primarily on the years 1941-1945 in Theresienstadt.
But what did these girls experience b e f o r e they were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto? The new module for the educational project is an essential addition to the book The Girls of Room 28, which will be newly published this year.
My thanks go to the authors and their books, which were of pivotal importance for writing the new module.
- Albright, Madeleine, Winter in Prague. A Personal Story of Remembrbance and War 1937-1948
- Grochtmann, Ulrich, Geschichte aus der Nähe. Graphiken aus der ČSR von Josef Čapek u.a. aus der Zeit von 1933-1938
- Burger, Hanuš, Der Frühling war es wert. Erinnerungen
- Demetz, Peter, Mein Prag, Erinnerungen 1939 bis 1945.
The Year 1938 and Tdoday. A personal Note.
When the Russian attack on Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, I was already writing this module for the educational project. Whether I wanted to or not, I connected the events of 1938/1939 with what is happening today. The question and the image of the hunted dove of peace by Josef Čapek Who will make it? from 1938 have been in my mind ever since. I fear with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyi, the Ukrainians. I fear for Ukrainian children, I fear for their fate. I fear for peace in Europe, for peace in the world.
Against this backdrop I started to focus more and more on the years 1938/1939 which is less due to the past but much more to our present, marked by February 24, 2022. The module/brochure is therefore also a contribution to the current discourse on war and peace.
Brundibár children's book for Ukrainian children. It is for similar reasons that we - our organization Room 28 and Edition Room 28 - have launched a special project. In the frame of events - readings from the children's book with music and songs - we are giving free copies of the book to Ukrainian children. A project supported by the Foreign Ministry. More on Room 28 e.V.
Room 28 Educational Project
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.