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
Die Edition Room 28 und der Verein Room 28 haben aktuell eine Projekt-Partnerschaft mit der J-Arteck Jugendbildungsstätte in Berlin. Das Projekt ist mit unserem Brundibár. Lese- und Geschenkprojekt für Kinder verbunden, über das der Generalmusikdirektor der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München und Chefdirigent & Künstlerischer Leiter des Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchesters Berlin (RSB) Vladimir Jurowski die Schirmherrschaft übernommen hat. Die hebräische und ukrainische Ausgabe des Kinderbuches Brundibár. Wie Aninka und Pepíček den Leierkastenmann besiegten gaben den Anlass dafür, dass das Thema "Brundibár" für das diesjährige Kreativ-Summer Camp aufgegriffen wurde und im Mittelpunkt stehen wird. Denn bei diesem Camp unter dem Motto " Discover. Create. Perform" nehmen immer auch israelische und ukrainische Jugendliche teil. Diese können erstmals die Geschichte, die der Kinderoper zugrundeliegt, in ihrer Sprache lesen. Vom 5.- 8. Juli 2025 findet im Domizil der J-Arteck-Jugendbildungsstätte in Berlin eine vorbereitende Konferenz zum diesjährigen internationalen Summer Camp (11.-19. August) statt. Das Resultat der Workshops (Theater, Musik, Gesang, Bildende Kunst etc.) ist eine gemeinsame Performance, die am 18. August 2025 öffentlich in Berlin gezeigt wird. Zu dieser Konferenz laden wir, Room 28 e.V., den Opernregisseur Mstislav Pentkovsky aus Riga nach Berlin ein. Er inspirierte zur ukrainischen und hebräischen Ausgabe des Kinderbuches und zu unserem Geschenkprojekt. Dass wir diese Idee umsetzen konnten, ist dem Auswärtigen Amt zu danken, das die Produktion dieser beiden Ausgaben unterstützte. Warum? Weil Freundschaft, Gerechtigkeit, Menschlichkeit und Solidarität die Quelle unserer Kraft ist. Und weil wir die Bücher im Zeichen der Solidarität im Rahmen von Veranstaltungen verschenken. Link zur J-Arteck-Jugendbildungsstätte und dem Summer-Camp 2025 Link zu unserem Brundibár-Projekt: www.room28.net/brundibar Mstislav Pentkovsky stellte auch den Kontakt zu Ella Nilova , Gründerin und Leiterin der J-Arteck-Jugendbildungsstätte her, wo wir im letzten Jahr die erste Lesung für ukrainische Kinder durchführten – siehe Aktionen. Wir haben in ihr eine überaus engagierte Verbündete, die jedes Jahr das Summer Camp nahezu allein organisiert und nun vor Herausforderungen steht, die aufgrund der weltpolitischen Lage größer sind als je zuvor. Daher wollen wir sie so gut als möglich unterstützen. Für mich ist dabei wiederum die Unterstützung von Mstislav Pentkovsky wichtig. Gemeinsam mit ihm stelle ich am 5. Juli den internationalen TeilnehmerInnen der Konferenz die Kinderoper Brundibár , die Geschichte der ersten Aufführungen in Prag und Theresienstadt und das Brundibár-Kinderbuch vor; auch die Neuausgabe des alten Buches Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28. Denn die Geschichte dieser Mädchen ist auch die Geschichte der ersten Aufführungen von Brundibár im Ghetto Theresienstadt. Wir laden Mstislav Pentkovsky vom 3. -7. Juli nach Berlin ein. Wer uns unterstützen möchte - gerne! Wir haben unserem Projekt auf Betterplace einen aktuellen Bedarf hinzugefügt. Alle TeilnehmerInnen erhalten von uns ein Brundibár-Kinderbuch - deutsch, ukrainisch oder hebräisch.
5. Juni 2025. Erschienen! Eine Freundschaft, die den Holocaust überdauerte, ein Zeugnis menschlicher Stärke und ein Vermächtnis, das nicht vergessen werden darf: Das Buch "Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28" kehrt in einer umfassend überarbeiteten und erweiterten Neuausgabe zurück. Es erzählt die bewegende Geschichte einer Gruppe jüdischer Kinder, die im Ghetto Theresienstadt zwischen 1942 und 1944 im Zimmer 28 des Mädchenheims L 410 zusammenlebten und zusammenhielten.
Heute am 28. Mai ist Helgas Geburtstag. Sie wäre 95 Jahre geworden. Ich denke sehr an sie, täglich, aber besonders heute. Denn an ihrem Geburtstag sollte ihr zu Ehren die Neuausgabe des Buches Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 erscheinen. Leider, die Bücher sind noch bei der Druckerei, sie werden in wenigen Tagen ausgeliefert. Ich hätte Helga so gerne als erste ein Buch übergeben! Aber das ist nicht möglich. Sie ist vor fünf Jahren ganz plötzlich von uns gegangen. Unzählige Lesungen habe ich mit ihr seit 2004 an vielen Orten durchgeführt. Ich höre ihre Stimme, höre sie aus ihrem Tagebuch lesen und von ihren Freundinnen erzählen. Unsere Lesungen waren getragen von einem großen Freundeskreis, und einer großen Kraft. Heute undenkbar, denke ich. Die Zeiten haben sich grundlegend verändert. Skepsis und immer wieder Entsetzen ist dem Geist gewichen, der uns früher zu vielen Unternehmungen beflügelte. Schiller kommt mir in den Sinn. "Er ist dahin, der süße Glaube... der rauhen Wirklichkeit zum Raube..." und ich frage mich: Wenn ich schon am Zustand der Welt leide und verzweifle, um wie viel mehr würde Helga heute darunter leiden, verzweifeln????
Today I read a text on Linkedin. It was about wonderful Alice Herz-Sommer , the pianist, and it struck a chord in my heart, bringing back memories, especially of my my first visit to her in London. At that time, in 1996, I was working on a radio documentary about the children's opera "Brundibár" in Theresienstadt. I asked Alice for an interview and flew from Berlin to London to meet her. I sat with her, captivated by her engaging friendliness, openness, clarity of spirit, determination, and warmth. I was overwhelmed. I returned home feeling that I had experienced something unforgettable, something that will have a lasting impact on me. And it did. As part of my research into "Brundibár" in Theresienstadt, I met, I am grateful to say, some very wonderful people, survivors of the Holocaust, who would become very important to me both professionally and personally. What was so special about Alice was her curiosity, her sincere interest in her counterpart. During our conversation, she changed my journalistic approach and instead of me interviewing her, she started to inquire more and more about me, my life, my family, my daughter. I was deeply touched. Returning home, my soul vibrated with positive energy, or, what comes closer to the truth: It was filled with love. Yes, the author of the Linkedin text about Alice Herz-Sommer is right with every word: "Alice's life stands as as a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit - and to the profound, life-saving power of music in the face of unimaginable horror." She was a gifted pianist. And a truly exceptional strong, wonderful woman. There was but one thing that made me crinch - the KI created photo. omn LinkedIn. This prompted me to write this text. With it I feel, of course, compelled to draw your attention to the forthcoming new edition of the book "The Girls of Room 28" in which Alice tells about her son playing in the opera Brundibár, or what happened on November 11, 1943 when all ghetto-inmates had to gather in the "Kotlina" outside the ghetto. Alice also played a very special role in the life of one of the girls of Room 28, Anna Flachová, who has become a pianist because she heard Alice playing all the edudes of Chopin in the ghetto. I will never forget how Alice told me why and when she started to play these etudes in Prague, and never forget Alice's 100th birthday - I write about it in this BLOG: Flaska und Alice zum Gedenken You can hear Alices's voice, and see a photo with her and her son Raphael, on this menue of the website: Brundibár und die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 - Yes, to put a long story short: The author of the Linkin text isabsolutely right and I gladly and gratefully share his words: "Alice Herz-Sommer didn’t just survive the Holocaust—she transcended it through art, kindness, and unshakable hope. Her legacy continues to remind us that even in the bleakest places, beauty and spirit can still endure."
Eine Freundschaft, die den Holocaust überdauerte, ein Zeugnis menschlicher Stärke und ein Vermächtnis, das nicht vergessen werden darf: Das Buch » Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 « erzählt die bewegende Geschichte jüdischer Kinder, die im Ghetto Theresienstadt zusammenlebten und zusammenhielten. Es erzählt auch von den ersten Aufführungen der Kinderoper »Brundibár« in Theresienstadt. – Ein Buch gegen Geschichtsvergessenheit und Antisemitismus und ein Plädoyer für Kunst, Kultur und Erziehung zur Menschlichkeit.
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: