A lecture dedicated to the topic of Moravia and Silesia as an unique area of the development of Jewish history. It is a place that gave the foundation to many Austrian, Hungarian and Slovak Jewish communities. Reform Judaism and later Zionism manifested themselves specifically here. In interviews with witnesses from this part of Europe, it is clear that loyalty to Moravian customs remained valid even in the new world they went to. The evening will include a presentation of the museum project Mehrin – the Moravian Jewish Museum explaining the meaning, purpose and concept of the new museum. We invite you to discuss the intention of creating new museums, your suggestions or stories that you could recommend for our project, or just to learn about the rich cultural heritage of Jewish Moravia and Silesia that goes on.
Speakers: Martin Smok, Tana Klementova, Martin Reiner
Free and open to the public. Seats are limited, on first-come first-served basis. RSVP through Eventbrite.
About
Martin Smok is the chairman of OpenEye, z.s., a Czech NGO dedicated to primary historical research and the creation of testimony based educational programs drawing on the Jewish experience of the past to teach practically useful skills for today. After the fall of Communism, he studied at FAMU, the Prague Film Academy, and became a Jewish Youth leader in the Czechoslovak Union of Jewish Youth. His main areas of interest are Modern Jewish History of Czechoslovakia with focus on rescue through ransom, as well as immigration, transmigration, emigration and the role of the official and unofficial Jewish Communities in these processes vis a vis the Communist state authorities. He authored several documentary films and books on the topic and curated permanent exhibitions in both Prague and Brno.
Tana Klementova graduated in religious studies, history and history teaching in Brno. For a long time she was the head of the educational programmes of the Brno branch of the Jewish Museum in Prague. She has worked with the Jewish Community of Brno, Masaryk University and local cultural festivals on events and lectures for the public. She lectures on Judaism and the history of Jewish Moravian communities for regional museums in Boskovice, Prostějov and Mikulov. She is the author of several temporary exhibitions on Moravian Jewish themes and co-author of the core exhibition in the Villa Löw Beer in Brno. In addition to her work as a historian for the Mehrin Museum project, she develops educational programs of the Arnošt Lustig Foundation, the Schindler's Ark and the Maier Family project commemorating the story of Ruth Maier.
Martin Reiner had a variety of professions before 1989: a clerk in a dance school, a salesman in an antique shop, a press delivery man or an inspector in an operetta. After November 1989, he was co-founder and editor of the iconic political-cultural magazine Proglas, press spokesman for the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and since autumn 1992 he has been the owner of the publishing house Druhe mesto (formerly Petrov). In 2018, he took the position of an opposition councillor in the Brno Centre district and founded the City Gallery, which creates street murals in the city centre and in excluded localities. For the last four years he has been preparing the project of the Moravian Jewish Museum Mehrin. Since 1991, he has published nine collections of poetry and six books of prose, which have been translated into six languages. His novel The Poet About Ivan Blatny was the Czech Book of the Year in 2015 and has won several other prestigious awards.
The event is organized by the Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews together with Mehrin – the Moravian Jewish Museum and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, with the support of BBLA.