Discussions with Victims of Nazi Persecution at the Faculty of Social Sciences ****************************************************************************************** * Discussions with Victims of Nazi Persecution at the Faculty of Social Sciences ****************************************************************************************** The Institute of International Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Living Me non-profit have been organizing meetings with witnesses of Nazi persecution. The originato Dr. Vít Fojtek from the Department of American Studies. When a how did you get the idea to organize these discussions? It happened three years ago. I was riding the tram, and from the window I saw Colonel Jan unfortunately died on November 24, 2010), walking down the street, fast and straight up ev age. That reminded me of his extraordinary lectures that I went to when I studied at the F Back then, a couple of years after the Velvet Revolution, I – and most of the other studen class – admired his courage and his respect to moral values, according to which he, unlike actually acted and lived. Even though fifteen years have passed since I went to his l extraordinary person who has maintained great physical and in good mood, even after all those obstacles the fate had p escape from a concentration camp, the death of his father, of most his family in the concentration camp Auschwitz, imp escape to Great Britain via Africa, service at the 311th bo his arrest after the war and five years of work in the mine Kladno, life in exile. I decided to invite him for a discus the documentary The Fighter directed by the Israeli filmmak many awards at international festivals. The event was met w teachers and Colonel Wiener himself. Then I spent some time working away from the university and only managed to continue organ meetings a few years after. Recent installments were only possible with the help of Living profit that maintains an extensive database of witnesses of Nazi persecution and provides administrative work for the meetings. The organization was founded in 2003, in the process compensations to the Czech victims of the Nazi terror. It wasn’t an entirely new idea, but of the previous undertakings of the Czech-German Future Fund, whose Department for the Vic Regime has processed over 120,000 requests for compensation. During this process, a unique witnesses, their personal and official documents, photographs and personal recollections w Members of the department then founded the Living Memory organization to maintain this dat From the left: Kateřina Šírková, René Šírek, Božena Roubíčková and Česlav Roubíček, behind Ph.D. How many meetings have there already been and at what students are they targeted? Who has part? The discussions are intended for students of Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees, an teachers interested. Invitations are being published on the faculty’s website, sent to stu addresses, put up on bulletin boards at the faculty and advertised on Facebook. Last year, hosted Dr. Jiří Zapletal, a direct witness and participant of the student demonstrations o 17, 1939, who was arrested in December 1939 and interned in the Sachsenhausen concentratio Berlin. This year, Dr. Petr Šafařík’s History of Central Europe seminar welcomed two force Dr. René Šírek and Mr. Česlav Roubíček, who worked in the German anti-aircraft defense sys called Luftschutz, during the bombardment of the seaports of Kiel and Hamburg. The two of a long-lasting friendship, connected by a number of coincidences: They were both born in 1 grammar schools in Prague and graduated in 1942 – René Šírek on the day of the Heydrich as Česlav Roubíček on the day of the Lidice massacre. These events naturally had direct impac Just a few months after their graduation, they were enlisted to do forced labour in German René Šírek described his work in the North German ports as follows: “Working here was phys and dangerous, we were removing the rubble after air-raids and searching for and deactivat His worst experience from this period was the confrontation with the deaths of civilians a his own life during air-raids and demining. On the other hand, he found new friends. After Bohemia in 1943, he was again sent to labour at the anti-aircraft defense in Prague-Ruzyně arrested and spent three weeks in jail due to a conflict with a Czech collaborationist org Roubíček, for example, participated in the fight for the train station in Praha-Vršovice d uprising in May 1945. JUDr. René Šírek (left) and Česlav Roubíček When will next meetings happen? How do you choose your guests? I’m trying to look for witnesses with interesting life stories, and if possible, victims o of Nazi persecution. Another factor is the witness’ experience of public talking and their share their experiences, most of which they would often rather completely forget. Many of their stories at both Czech and German high schools and universities and other institution hand, if I come across a witness who has not yet told his story, I try to convince him or with our students. It is of course a unique and often unfortunately one of the last chance most of the witnesses are approaching ninety. At the beginning of the summer semester of 2011, we are planning a meeting with Mrs. Marta holocaust victim, who survived, among other things, four concentration camps: Theresiensta Gross-Rosen and Mährensdorf. She is also the chairman of the historical association Auschw 2008, she was awarded with the Medal of Merit Second Grade for her service to the state in education. Other discussions are in the works  with more witnesses of the events of Novemb about whom Living History is now filming a documentary. There are many others – victims of Roma Holocaust, political prisoners in concentration camps, forced labourers and others – stories is unique. What has the feedback from students been like? What interests them the most? Given that the meeting had only 80 minutes, there wasn’t much space for questions. General liked the lecture and appreciated the opportunity to listen to the stories of actual eyewi were also interested in how both gentlemen experienced the key events in their lives emoti they managed to deal with adversities. Selections from surveys handed out to students Did you find the lecture interesting, and why? Of course, it is an amazing experience to talk to somebody who experienced it all. You won like this in the books. A student at the Institute of International Studies from Krásno (in the Karlovarský Region Yes. The best and most reliable information about history can only be told by the people w it. I appreciated and enjoyed the lecture. Thanks. An undergraduate student at the Institute of International Studies Student from Prague, 19 Absolutely! No documentaries can substitute live narration. Too bad there wasn’t more time to these gentlemen for hours… Details and stories like this best describe the times in whi An undergraduate student at the Institute of International Studies Student from Trutnov, 2 Yes, of course – getting the information first hand, hearing personal stories is much more and moving than learning about it at school. Here, you can see that it’s not just numbers information, but real people’s stories. Given that my granddad was a forced labourer durin never told me what it was like, I am happy to have heard about it at least from someone el An undergraduate student at the Institute of International Studies Student from Prague, 19 Photos: Teresa Babková (Lucie Kettnerová) Translation: Jaroslav Švelch