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Czech BooksLisa Peschel: rediscovering the forgotten theatre of Terezín
During the Second World War, over 140,000 people were imprisoned in the
Terezín ghetto north of Prague. Their only crime was to be Jewish. One in
four died in the ghetto itself, and most who survived later perished in
other Nazi camps. But despite appalling overcrowding, there was still a
semblance of normal life in Terezín. The ghetto’s streets still had
names; people would still go to work in the morning, and come home to their
cramped barracks at night. And against the odds, Terezín had a thriving
cultural life. This included theatre, a fact that gripped the imagination
of the American theatrical historian, Lisa Peschel. She has spent years
trying to find out more about the texts that were written and performed in
the ghetto. Her detective work, in close cooperation with survivors, has
yielded an astonishing amount of material, and Lisa has now edited a book
that brings some of these texts together. Published in Prague by Akropolis,
the book is in Czech and German, but Lisa promises that there will soon be
an English edition too. She told me more about her fascinating - and
important - research.
More
Current AffairsEducational centre to open at former Roma concentration camp
A former Roma concentration camp in South Moravia was turned into a holiday
resort in the 1960s. Now the site is set to become a documentation and
educational centre with a permanent exposition on the Romany Holocaust –
the first institution of its kind in the Czech Republic.
More
SpotlightThe Romany Holocaust commemoration service at Lety
A bus of students and activists heads for Lety, South Bohemia, on May 13.
They are driving to the site of a former concentration camp, set up by the
Nazis to wipe out the Bohemian protectorate’s Roma population during the
Second World War. Official sources say that 326 Roma perished in the
concentration camp at Lety, while many hundreds more were transported from
Lety to Auschwitz, where they were taken to the gas chambers.
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Current AffairsRemembrance in Lety
Memorial services have been taking place at the site of a former
concentration camp in the town of Lety. This is the 13th year
the Czech Republic has marked the Romany Holocaust. But the site in Lety,
still borders a pig farm despite repeated calls by various groups for it
to
be closed down. Radio Prague’s Rosie Johnston joins us from Lety. More
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