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Room 28 Blog. Hannelore Brenner
30. Oktober 2023
In Solidarity with Israel
What happened in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 was a terrible massacre, a pogrom. In the most insidious and brutal way, hundreds of Israelis, including visitors to Israel, were murdered, many taken as hostages. While Israel's highest goal is to defend its country, its right to exist and to protect its people, - which unfortunately it failed to do on October 7 -, the highest goal of Hamas and its allies is to annihilate Israel. They do it without regard for their own Palestinian population. Consciously, Hamas is dragging its own people down with it.
A few days ago, I read a blog entry that made me think for a long while. It was written by the Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi. In his statement on the Hamas massacre on October 7, I found this passage:
"In the days immediately following the massacre, I received calls from several European journalists, asking if I saw this as a ‘Holocaust moment.’ They were sympathetic; they meant well. But I couldn’t give them the answer they were seeking. I don’t need Auschwitz to motivate me to defend myself against Hamas, I replied. (…) Nor do I trust European sympathy for Israel that is based on the Holocaust. That support is unstable; today it is applied to dead Jews, tomorrow to dead Palestinians.”
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-this-war-is-about/
"I do not trust European sympathy for Israel based on the Holocaust"... An argument that hits home. The sympathy for Israel from the German side is an unstable, wavering and a torn one. And this, although for many Germans and many of their political leaders reconciliation with Israel, solidarity with Israel, the fight against anti-Semitism is part of their historical responsibility, an unwritten Fundamental Law, officially called “Staatsräson”- reason of state, a term that is currently in high conjunction.
But what good did that do to us? What does that do to us? What does it tell us when hatred and violence and anti-Semitism is spreading in Germany and among Germans? What does it tell us when more people in Germany take to the streets to blame the Israelis and not the terror organization Hamas for what happened on 7 October? What does it tell us about our politically strongly promoted "Holocaust remembrance culture", which is considered by some respective people abroad as being exemplary?
"Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, I stand before you all as German President, burdened with great historical guilt." These words were spoken by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at Yad Vashem on January 23, 2020. "Yes, we Germans remember. But sometimes it seems to me that we understand the past better than the present. (...) I wish I could say: We Germans have learned from history forever. But I can't say that when hatred and agitation are spreading."
Wherever you look - an abyss
In view of the terrible events in Israel, in view of an inconceivably evil, cruel massacre of hundreds of people by Hamas, in view of the war that threatens in the Middle East, German Israel policy, German migration policy, our so well-intentioned Holocaust remembrance culture and "Holocaust education" are being put to the test. It is a test bench on a narrow, dangerous ridge at a dizzying height. Everywhere you look - abyss. And a sky above that you can't hold on to.
It weighed heavily on me when, on October 12, 2023, I had to say some words during a special event that sealed the cooperation of our organization Room 28 with the Otfried -von-Weißenburg-Gymnasium Dahn (OWG), in the building of the Representation of the German federal state Rheinland-Pfalz in Berlin. As author of the story of “The Girls of Room 28” and manager of the organization Room 28 I was happy that we found such a wonderful partner in this Gymnasium, its director, teachers and students, happy that they decided to help us convey the messages of t "The Girls of Room 28", messages of humanity and hope for a better world. It weighed heavily on me that this special event dedicated to people murdered in the Holocaust was bathed in a deep black light by the terrible pogrom in the immediate vicinity of the Gaza Strip on 7 October. Nevertheless - I had to find words.
Where is the heart of the world ?
Brothers, stop killing each other!
Don’t you have enough of war?
Don’t you know that you are human beings?
There is no point for us to exist
When the heart of man is shot.
"What is the heart of the world?" asked Helga Pollak, 13, in her Terezín diary. "Is it a kind of law on which our world is founded, according to which everything is aligned?" Theatre-director Olek Witt brought Helga's diary on stage in Dresden in 2019 under this title: “What is the Heart of the World?” During his conversation with Helga in Vienna, which he captured on camera, he asked her how she would answer the question today. Spontaneously and with a visible touch of wistfulness, she said, "Today I would ask, Where is the heart of the world?"
I thought of all this but did not say it in my speech. I quoted words by Thomas Mann, written in American exile in 1938 in the face of the crushing of the Czechoslovak Republic by Hitler and his Nazi state, in the face of the Munich betrayal at the end of September 1938:
"Spirit and reason, accustomed for many a thousand years that things do not go according to them on earth, are truly not refuted, beaten and given the lie by such an absurd victory. (...) Truth and reason - [I add: humanity] - may be suppressed on the outside for a black while, - in us they remain eternally free (...) in safe alliance with all the best."
In the safe alliance with all the best. This idea became a kind of inner support for me, especially thanks to the friendship with survivors from Room 28, Girls' Home L 410 in the Theresienstadt ghetto, which carried me for many years; also thanks to my friends and our Room 28 circle of friends, which miraculously grew larger on October 12. At the end of my speech, I recalled the anthem of the "Girls of Room 28", sung by the students of the OWG, which has this line in it. "We will fight evil and pave our way to good. We won't return home until we do."
A spiritual war
"To win this war against evil requires steadiness and balance," wrote Yossi Klein Halevi in his October 7 statement. "Leftwing Jews need to understand that the Jewish people cannot afford the purity of powerlessness, while rightwing Jews need to understand that power requires moral limits. As a people, we must not be indifferent to the anguish of Gaza. And we must not allow that anguish to undermine our resolve to destroy Hamas.
A narrow ridge. Deadly abyss on all sides. A sky that gives no support. Only the spiritual path remains. "The war against evil is ultimately a spiritual war."(Yossi Klein Halevi).
Israel - why are there so many people unaware of this? - is not the first country that was founded! Over the centuries, national borders have shifted and changed thousands of times and new states have been founded. But never has a people had more reason to found their own country!
And again I think of the verses of Handa Pollak written down in her notebook in the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1944.
The earth is red with blood
The year advances wearily
It is war
My God, it is war
Battlefields full with corpses
Overflowed with blood
The earth is so tired
On the horizon
The moment of despair
Even the sun
Shines through the blood
And says:
Brothers, stop killing each other!
Don’t you have enough of war?
Don’t you know that you are human beings?
There is no point
For human beings to exist
When there is no world any more.
Calmly the moon moves across the sky
And he too looks sadly down to the earth
And says:
God, don’t you see the suffering on earth?
Everything is bathed in blood
How to recover from all
When the heart of man is shot dead?
A few days ago, I read a blog entry that made me think for a long while. It was written by the Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi. In his statement on the Hamas massacre on October 7, I found this passage:
"In the days immediately following the massacre, I received calls from several European journalists, asking if I saw this as a ‘Holocaust moment.’ They were sympathetic; they meant well. But I couldn’t give them the answer they were seeking. I don’t need Auschwitz to motivate me to defend myself against Hamas, I replied. (…) Nor do I trust European sympathy for Israel that is based on the Holocaust. That support is unstable; today it is applied to dead Jews, tomorrow to dead Palestinians.”
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/what-this-war-is-about/
"I do not trust European sympathy for Israel based on the Holocaust"... An argument that hits home. The sympathy for Israel from the German side is an unstable, wavering and a torn one. And this, although for many Germans and many of their political leaders reconciliation with Israel, solidarity with Israel, the fight against anti-Semitism is part of their historical responsibility, an unwritten Fundamental Law, officially called “Staatsräson”- reason of state, a term that is currently in high conjunction.
But what good did that do to us? What does that do to us? What does it tell us when hatred and violence and anti-Semitism is spreading in Germany and among Germans? What does it tell us when more people in Germany take to the streets to blame the Israelis and not the terror organization Hamas for what happened on 7 October? What does it tell us about our politically strongly promoted "Holocaust remembrance culture", which is considered by some respective people abroad as being exemplary?
"Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, I stand before you all as German President, burdened with great historical guilt." These words were spoken by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at Yad Vashem on January 23, 2020. "Yes, we Germans remember. But sometimes it seems to me that we understand the past better than the present. (...) I wish I could say: We Germans have learned from history forever. But I can't say that when hatred and agitation are spreading."
Wherever you look - an abyss
In view of the terrible events in Israel, in view of an inconceivably evil, cruel massacre of hundreds of people by Hamas, in view of the war that threatens in the Middle East, German Israel policy, German migration policy, our so well-intentioned Holocaust remembrance culture and "Holocaust education" are being put to the test. It is a test bench on a narrow, dangerous ridge at a dizzying height. Everywhere you look - abyss. And a sky above that you can't hold on to.
It weighed heavily on me when, on October 12, 2023, I had to say some words during a special event that sealed the cooperation of our organization Room 28 with the Otfried -von-Weißenburg-Gymnasium Dahn (OWG), in the building of the Representation of the German federal state Rheinland-Pfalz in Berlin. As author of the story of “The Girls of Room 28” and manager of the organization Room 28 I was happy that we found such a wonderful partner in this Gymnasium, its director, teachers and students, happy that they decided to help us convey the messages of t "The Girls of Room 28", messages of humanity and hope for a better world. It weighed heavily on me that this special event dedicated to people murdered in the Holocaust was bathed in a deep black light by the terrible pogrom in the immediate vicinity of the Gaza Strip on 7 October. Nevertheless - I had to find words.
Where is the heart of the world ?
In spirit, I sought refuge in some of the messages of the "Girls of Room 28" that were passed down to us. From Lenka Lindt (1930-1944) comes the sentence, "Human beings are in this world to do good. Those who do not abide by that principle, have no right to be a human being." The words can be read in the poetry-album of Anna Flach (later Anna Hanusová), who was called Flaška in her circle of friends. I remembered Flaška's motto, inspired by the words of Margit Mühlstein who wrote into her poetry album in 1944: " Our years in Theresienstadt will have been for nothing if we ever oppress a single person in our own lives.” And fragments from Handa Pollak's notebook came to mind. She wrote wonderful poems.
Brothers, stop killing each other!
Don’t you have enough of war?
Don’t you know that you are human beings?
There is no point for us to exist
When the heart of man is shot.
"What is the heart of the world?" asked Helga Pollak, 13, in her Terezín diary. "Is it a kind of law on which our world is founded, according to which everything is aligned?" Theatre-director Olek Witt brought Helga's diary on stage in Dresden in 2019 under this title: “What is the Heart of the World?” During his conversation with Helga in Vienna, which he captured on camera, he asked her how she would answer the question today. Spontaneously and with a visible touch of wistfulness, she said, "Today I would ask, Where is the heart of the world?"
I thought of all this but did not say it in my speech. I quoted words by Thomas Mann, written in American exile in 1938 in the face of the crushing of the Czechoslovak Republic by Hitler and his Nazi state, in the face of the Munich betrayal at the end of September 1938:
"Spirit and reason, accustomed for many a thousand years that things do not go according to them on earth, are truly not refuted, beaten and given the lie by such an absurd victory. (...) Truth and reason - [I add: humanity] - may be suppressed on the outside for a black while, - in us they remain eternally free (...) in safe alliance with all the best."
In the safe alliance with all the best. This idea became a kind of inner support for me, especially thanks to the friendship with survivors from Room 28, Girls' Home L 410 in the Theresienstadt ghetto, which carried me for many years; also thanks to my friends and our Room 28 circle of friends, which miraculously grew larger on October 12. At the end of my speech, I recalled the anthem of the "Girls of Room 28", sung by the students of the OWG, which has this line in it. "We will fight evil and pave our way to good. We won't return home until we do."
To my great surprise, I read in the Blog by Yoss Klein Halevi. "The war against evil is ultimately a spiritual war. Divine protection for Israel, the Torah warns us, is conditional on our behavior. You shall purge the evil from your midst, it commands.”
- A sentence from the Torah! Only now do I understand the deeper meaning , the other dimension of the lines in the "Hymn of the Girls of Room 28". It is a universal, millennia-old commandment. You can listen to their hymn, sung by young students for the opening of the Exhibtion in the United Nations in Geneva in January 2014.
A spiritual war
"To win this war against evil requires steadiness and balance," wrote Yossi Klein Halevi in his October 7 statement. "Leftwing Jews need to understand that the Jewish people cannot afford the purity of powerlessness, while rightwing Jews need to understand that power requires moral limits. As a people, we must not be indifferent to the anguish of Gaza. And we must not allow that anguish to undermine our resolve to destroy Hamas.
A narrow ridge. Deadly abyss on all sides. A sky that gives no support. Only the spiritual path remains. "The war against evil is ultimately a spiritual war."(Yossi Klein Halevi).
Why?
Why do so many people in Berlin and other cities take to the streets driven by anger and hatred against Israel, waving Palestinian flags and knowing only one enemy: the Israelis? Why don't they take to the streets against their own enemy in their midst, against the murderous crusades of Hamas? Hamas is not interested in any peace, in any rapprochement, in any solution to the Middle East conflict. It has only one goal: to destroy Israel. And it does not hesitate for a moment to drag its own people into the abyss.Israel - why are there so many people unaware of this? - is not the first country that was founded! Over the centuries, national borders have shifted and changed thousands of times and new states have been founded. But never has a people had more reason to found their own country!
The "evil" is more than the organization of Hamas, more than Hezbollah, more than the organization Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), more than Al-Qaeda and what all the terrorist groups are called. A spiritual war against evil requires the realization of all people, really all people, people from all different national, political, social, cultural and religious circles - the realization that hatred and violence, terror and war, revenge and murder do have only one future - a world without people.
And again I think of the verses of Handa Pollak written down in her notebook in the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1944.
The earth is red with blood
The year advances wearily
It is war
My God, it is war
Battlefields full with corpses
Overflowed with blood
The earth is so tired
On the horizon
The moment of despair
Even the sun
Shines through the blood
And says:
Brothers, stop killing each other!
Don’t you have enough of war?
Don’t you know that you are human beings?
There is no point
For human beings to exist
When there is no world any more.
Calmly the moon moves across the sky
And he too looks sadly down to the earth
And says:
God, don’t you see the suffering on earth?
Everything is bathed in blood
How to recover from all
When the heart of man is shot dead?
Blog von Hannelore Brenner
The story of the betrayal of European democracy by Trump & consorts, the perfidious attempt by Trump & Vance to blackmail the most courageous president I have ever seen in my life, marks – what? The downfall of the Western world? The decline of the US? The beginning of a new era of determined Democrats and a United Europe – or the contrary? An American movement strong enough to stop the monstrous ghosts – or the contrary? I do not know. However, what I have seen end of February was the dirtiest show that has ever been performed in the White House’s Oval Office in front of running cameras and direct worldwide transmission. Some say that Trump and consorts deliberately set up a trap for Selensky to get what they wanted and, if it didn't work, to expose their guest to ridicule and even accusations of being responsible for World War III. What a cynical outrageous allegation. I certainly wished Selensky would not have gone alone into the cave of the lion but with a strong European ally. Nonetheless, Selensky did not fall into a trap. He unmasked the trap and the trappers. I highly appreciate Selensky for being faithful to himself, to his country, to his allies and friends, and for his courage. Last year I published a book about the time before "The Girls of Room 28" were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. I wanted to shed light on the Historical Context of their childhood biographies and got increasingly caught up in the events in 1938/1939 in their homelands, Czechoslovakia, which I described in particular detail and vividly. The book is written mainly for teachers and students as part of the Room 28 Educational Project . I put words from Tomáš G. Masaryk , President of Czechoslovakia from 1918-1935 at the beginning of the book, as I realized the parallels with today: “I am a firm pacifist. (...) If I want peace, it does not mean that I would accept an attack without defending myself. On the contrary. I want peace in a practical, not utopian way: which means that in order to preserve peace, I summon all the forces of sagacity and love for the nation and humanity, but if necessary, all forces of defense." Source: Karel Čapek: Masaryk erzählt sein Leben. Gespräche mit Masaryk.
Mir ist, als ob die Vergangenheit, in die ich ab 1996 eingetaucht bin, um die Geschichte der "Mädchen von Zimmer 28" zu erzählen, als Gegenwart gewaltig wie ein Tsunami über mich hereinbricht. Und ich werde gewahr: Nichts hat sich seit 1945 in Deutschland und auf der Welt geändert - auf der einen Seite die Skrupellosen, denen es nur um Macht und ums eigene Ego geht, auf der anderen Seite Menschen, die sich als soziales Wesen begreifen, in denen ein menschliches Herz schlägt. Wie war das damals, 1938, als die Tschechoslowakei von seinen Verbündeten verlassen und verraten wurde? - Wer Geschichte kennt, weiß, was daraus folgte. Thomas Mann. Dieser Friede, 1938 " Die Geschichte des Verrats der europäischen Demokratie an der Tchechoslowakischen Republik , der Darbringung dieses der Demokratie verbundenen und auf sie vertrauenden Staates an den Fascismus, um ihn zu retten, ihn dauernd zu befestigen und sich seiner als eines Landsknechtes gegen Rußland und den Sozialismus zu bedienen, – diese Geschichte gehört zu den schmutzigsten Stücken, die je gespielt worden sind. (…) Erbarmungslos, ungerührt, von zehntausendfachem Menschenelend, von dem Seelenzustand einer tapferen und gläubigen Nation, die für ihre Freiheit und für die Freiheit überhaupt zu kämpfen bereit gewesen war, und von dem Schicksal des deutschen Volkes selbst, seiner geistigen und moralischen Zukunft, wurde dem Gestapo-Staat ein ungeheurer, ihn auf unabsehbare Zeit befestigender Erfolg zugeschanzt, die demokratische Festung im Osten, die Tschechoslowakische Republik vernichtet und bewusst zu einem geistig gebrochenen Anhängsel des Nationalsozialismus gemacht, die kontinentale Hegemonie Hitler-Deutschlands besiegelt, Europa in die Sklaverei verkauft. Das Entgelt war dieser Friede. (...) Wahrheit und Vernunft mögen im Äußersten unterdrückt sein für eine schwarze Weile - in uns bleiben sie ewig frei (...) im sicheren Bunde mit allen Besten.
Today three years ago, on February 24, 2022, Ukraine was occupied and attacked by Russia. Our Brundibár. Reading- and Gift Project for children is rooted in this fatal event and in all that followed from it until today. The book is our sign of solidarity - a sign of the association Room 28 e.V. and me, author of the book and publisher of Edition Room 28. The Ukrainian edition of the children's book Brundibár. How Aninka and Pepíček defeated the organ grinder was published at the beginning of 2023. Then came October 7, 2023. We created another sign of solidarity: the Hebrew edition of the children's book. It will be published soon, in March 2025. In the frame of our Brundibár. Reading and Gift Project for children we give the books as gifts to Ukrainian and JHebrew-speaking children. In my Epilogue for the Hebrew edition you can learn about our motives. In this edition the accompanying texts are in both languages, Hebrew and German. Excerpt from the Epilogue . „He who fights for justice is our friend". In 1996, I began my research for a radio feature on the history of the first performances of the children's opera “Brundibár” in Prague and Theresienstadt. I was prepared for the fact that it would be depressing for my interviewees to be reminded of their time in the Theresienstadt ghetto. But then there were moments that amazed me. The keyword Brundibár worked like a magic formula that paved a path through the dark, agonizing memories and hit me right in the heart. Brundibár - for many of the former Terezín children, it was “a light in the darkness”. (...) After having seen a performance, Eva Landa always went back to the Girls' Home L 410, Room 28 and hoped that she would be able to experience the opera again. “I wanted to hear the lullaby again. I wanted to rejoice once more at how Brundibár is defeated and I wanted to sing with the choir once more: He who fights for justice is our friend. One of my very good friends who is deeply connected to Brundibár is the opera director Mstislav Pentkovsky . He staged the opera on several Russian stages and opera-houses such as the Mariinsky Theatre. He gave the idea for the Ukrainian and now the Hebrew edition. Here are his motifs :
Heute vor drei Jahren, am 24. Februar 2022 , wurde die Ukraine von Russland besetzt und angegriffen. Darin wurzelt unser Brundibár- Lese-und Geschenkprojekt für Kinder . Es ist unser Zeichen der Solidarität - ein Zeichen des Vereins Room 28 e.V. und mir, Autorin und Herausgeberin der Reihe Edition Room 28 und Vorstand und Projektleiterin ders Vereins. Die ukrainische Ausgabe des Kinderbuches Brundibár. Wie Aninka und Pepíček den Leierkastenmann besiegten erschien Anfang 2023. Dann kam der 7. Oktober 2023. Wir schufen ein weiteres Zeichen der Solidarität: die hebräische Ausgabe des Kinderbuches. Es kommt im März 2025 heraus. Mit dem Brundibár-Kinderbuch verbinden wir das Brundibár. Lese- und Geschenk-Projekt für Kinder . Wir verschenken die Bücher an ukrainisch und hebräisch-sprachige Kinder. Wie es dazu kam, geht aus meinem Nachwort für die hebräische Ausgabe hervor. Die Begleittexte sind darin sowohl in Hebräisch wie auch in Deutsch. Nachwort . „Wer für das Recht kämpft, ist unser Freund“ Im Jahre 1996 begannen meine Recherchen für ein Hörfunkfeature über die Geschichte der ersten Aufführungen der Kinderoper „Brundibár“ in Prag und Theresienstadt. Ich war darauf vorbereitet, dass es für meine Gesprächspartner bedrückend sein würde, an die Zeit im Ghetto Theresienstadt erinnert zu werden. Doch dann gab es Momente, die mich zum Staunen brachten. Das Stichwort Brundibár wirkte wie eine Zauberformel, die einen Pfad durch das dunkle, qualvolle Erinnern zu bahnen vermochte und mitten ins Herz trifft. Brundibár – das war für viele der einstigen Theresienstädter Kinder „ein Licht in der Dunkelheit“. (...) Eva Landa ging jedes Mal nach einer Aufführung zurück ins Mädchenheim L 410, ins Zimmer 28 und hoffte, dass sie die Oper noch einmal erleben könnte. "Ich wollte das Wiegenlied wieder hören. Ich wollte mich noch einmal darüber freuen, wie Brundibár besiegt wird und wollte noch einmal gemeinsam mit dem Chor singen: Wer für das Recht kämpft, ist unser Freund. Einer meiner Freunde, der mit Brundibár sehr verbunden ist, ist der Opernregisseur Mstislav Pentkovsky. Er inszenierte die Oper mehrmals auf russischen Bühnen. Er gab die Idee zur ukrainischen und nun zur hebräischen Ausgabe. Hier sind seine Motive:
Die Vorveröffentlichung des einleitenden Kapitels der im April 2025 erscheinenden Neuausgabe des Buches Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 auf meiner Website ist mein persönliches Statement als Autorin angesichts dessen, was am 7. Oktober 2023 und danach geschah, und meine Antwort auf die schockierende Spaltung in unserer Gesellschaft sowie ein Echo meiner im Kern erschütterten Seele. Am 27. Januar 2025 startete ich mit einem Statement die Vorveröffentlichung des umfassend überarbeiteten, erweiterten und aktualisierten Buches, das 2004 erstmals im Droemer Verlag erschien. Es war das Ergebnis des gemeinsamen Erinnerungsprojektes mit Überlebenden aus Theresienstadt und Auschwitz. Im gleichen Jahr erblickte die gleichnamige Ausstellung das Licht der Welt. Buch und Ausstellung wurden Teil der europäischen und der brasilianischen Erinnerungskultur. Für mich ist es zur Lebensaufgabe geworden, das Vermächtnis dieser Mädchen lebendig zu halten. Nun ist es für mich ein Gebot der Stunde, weitere Verbündete zu finden, die dazu beitragen, die Geschichte dieser Mädchen aus Theresienstadt weiterzuerzählen. Ich freue mich, dass ich auf eine kommende Lesung hinweisen kann: Die "Stiftung gegen Extremismus und Gewalt in Heide und Umgebung" veranstaltet am 6. Februar unter dem Titel: Mein Theresienstädter Tagebuch 1943-1944" eine Lesung Es ist diese Stiftung und ein privater Förderer, der es mir möglich machte, das Buch in neuer Form und mit neueren Inhalten neu zu publizieren.Hier gehts zum dritten Teil der Vorveröffentlichung:
Am 27. Januar 1943 notierte Otto Pollak aus Wien in sein Kalendarium: " 4 h nachmittags Übersiedlung Helgas ins Mädchenheim L 410. Mein Umzug ins Invalidenheim L 231. Ankunft des Co-Transportes aus Ungarisch-Brod - 1.000 Personen." Zwei Tage später schildert die 12-jährige Helga Pollak diesen Augenblick in ihrem Theresienstädter Tagebuch: "Ich bin eingezogen ins Mädchenheim. Es ist ein sonniges Zimmer im Gebäude der ehemaligen Kommandantur. Das Haus liegt neben der Kirche, unsere Fenster gehen auf den Hauptplatz. Ich könnte immer aus dem Fenster schauen, weil ich schöne Berge sehe (Mittelböhmisches Gebirge, den Berg Milešovka). Wenn es klar ist, sieht man auf einem Berg ein Kreuz und auf einem anderen eine Burg. - Die Mädchen haben keinen guten Eindruck auf mich gemacht. Als ich ihnen sagte, dass ich zu ihnen ziehe, baten sie die Betreuerin, mich anderswo unterzubringen. Die Betreuerin hat es versucht, doch es ging nicht. Ich schlafe auf einer Matratze im mittleren Teil der dreistöckigen Pritschen. Alles drückt mich. Ich bin sehr müde, deshalb höre ich auf zu schreiben." Heute am 27. Januar 2025 beginne ich die passagenweise Vorveröffentlichung des einführenden Kapitels der gründlich überarbeiteten, erweiterten und aktualisierten Neuausgabe des erstmals 2004 erschienenen Buches Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 . Es ist meine Stimme angesichts dessen, was am 7. Oktober 2023 und danach geschah. Es ist mein Beitrag angesichts der erschreckenden Spaltung in unserer Gesellschaft und der Erschütterung der Holocaust-Erinnerungskultur, die für mich zu einer Herzensangelegenheit geworden ist. Es ist meine mir gegenwärtig einzig mögliche Art der Teilnahme am gesellschaftlich-politischen und demokratischen Diskurs und Dialog. Ich tue es im Geiste der "Mädchen von Zimmer 28" und für die Werte, Hoffnungen und Ziele, die unser Room Erinnerungsprojekt ausmacht. Ich tue es, weil es mir zur Lebensaufgabe wurde, das Vermächtnis dieser Mädchen zu bewahren, lebendig zu halten und es jungen und zukünftigen Generationen zu vermitteln - im Interesse einer besseren Welt.
Die Edition Room 28 und der Verein Room 28 e.V. suchen für das Brundibar. Lese- und Geschenk-Projekt für Kinder einen Mitveranstalter für eine Auftaktveranstaltung. Im Rahmen der Vereranstaltung verschenken wir an unsere jungen Gäste das Brundibár-Kinderbuch in der ukrainischen und hebräischen Ausgabe, die wir dank Förderung durch das Auswärtige Amt als Zeichen der Solidarität mit der Ukraine und mit Israel herstellen konnten. Auch das deutsche Buch wollen wir Kindern schenken. Das Projekt steht unter der Schirmherrschaft des Generalmusikdirektors der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München Vladimir Jurowski . Das Motto des Projektes ist: Freundschaft, Gerechtigkeit, Menschlichkeit und Solidarität ist die Quelle unserer Kraft. Für unsere Veranstaltung suchen wir einen Mitveranstalter: Kindertheater, Schulen, Musikschulen etc. - mit Bühne, Klavier und mit einem Netzwerk zu Kindern. Mehr zum Projekt auf www.room28.net. Bei Interesse bitte schreiben an: hannelore.brenner@room28.net
Die Edition Room 28 und der Verein Room 28 e.V. bereiten fürs Frühjahr 2025 ein "Brundibár. Lese- und- Geschenkprojekt für Kinder " vor. Im Rahmen der Auftaktveranstaltung schenken wir Bücher der deutschen, ukrainischen und hebräischen Ausgabe des Kinderbuches Brundibár. Wie Aninka und Pepíček den Leierkastenmann besiegten an unsere jungen Gäste. Das Projekt steht unter dem Motto: Freundschaft, Gerechtigkeit, Menschlichkeit und Solidarität ist die Quelle unserer Kraft und unter der Schirmherrschaft des Generalmusikdirektors der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München Vladimir Jurowski . Interesse am Buch und unserem Projekt? Dann b estellen Sie einfach das Weihnachtsangebot der Edition Room 28 und Sie erhalten zur deutschen Ausgabe des Kinderbuches ein Freiexemplar der ukrainischen Ausgabe, eine CD mit dem historischen Hörfunkfeature Brundibár und die Kinder von Theresienstadt aus dem Jahre 1999 mit Erinnerungen der Überlebenden an die Prager und Theresienstädter Aufführung sowie Informationen zum multimedialen Room 28 Erinnerungs- Kultur- und Bildungsprojekt , für das der Name "Room 28" steht.
Einundzwanzig Jahre ist es her! Es war der 26. November 2003 , der 73. Geburtstag von Anna Hanusová, geb. Flachová, "unserer Flaška" , und der 100. Geburtstag der Pianistin Alice Herz-Sommer , als ich mit Flaška nach London flog, um an der Feier zum 100. Geburtstag von Alice dabei zu sein. In einer rührenden Szene, die für unser Room 28 Erinnerungsprojekt mit der Kamera festgehalten wurde, dankt Flaška Alice für "die lebenslange Inspiration". Warum? Das steht in dem Buch: Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 : "Die Chopin-Etüden von Alice Herz-Sommer machten einen so tiefen Eindruck auf mich, dass ich mir an diesem Abend vorgenommen habe, auch Pianistin zu werden. Und ich bin es geworden." - Ich werde diesen Moment nie vergessen. Es war das erste Mal nach dem Krieg, dass Flaška Alice wiedertraf. Die Verbundenheit ist zu spüren, in unserem Film und auf diesem Foto, mit dem ich heute an die beiden wunderbaren Frauen, die in meinem Herzen weiterleben, erinnern möchte.
Today is the 93rd birthday of Handa Drori, née Pollak, one of the "Girls of Room 28". She is the only one of this group of Theresienstadt friends who is still with us, living in Israel. I am so happy I could talk to her over the phone tonight and convey her my birthday wishes. I remembered her words into Flaška's scrap-book (Poesiealbum) in which she once wrote: "Always remember, dear Flaška, that there were times in Theresienstadt when we lived lazily through each day and never gave up hope that peace will come." - Peace came, but there was no reason for joy. Then and Now. After the war Handa wrote down these words: All of you Nameless ones and Friends you live with us in the Old Castle of Rremembrance You are with us because we think of you. Her spirit and the spirit of her friends is interwoven in all publications of Edition Room 28, as it was their desire that gave rise to all our joint projects since 1998 with the book, the exhibition and the play that was published 20 years ago in 2004. In their interest, our non-profit association Room 28 was founded in 2007, which led to a wonderful network of friends and supporters and has brought forth many new projects in their honor and in their memory. Today I would like to take Handa's birthday as an opportunity to thank our friends who have supported and accompanied the project with and about “The Girls of Room 28” over the years. May the spirit of these girls who were committed to share their experiences, values and hopes with us and the younger generations live on and inspire to humanity, solidarity and friendship and peace. My friends and me strive to do it with our new Brundibár-project: www.room28.net