On January 27^th several of our international partners performed their youngster projects in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. With these performances based on eyewitnesses, Theater Na de Dam and its eight partners provide this commemoration day with extra significance. The youngsters reflect on the meaning of this war in present day Europe.

In Prague, the youngsters performed “We are the memory”, a piece which commemorates the events of the “Heydrichiáda” which is the collective name for a period of severe repression carried out by the German Nazi occupiers during World War II in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in connection with the person representing the Reich Protector – Reinhard Heydrich. The youngsters based the performance on conversations with eye witnesses. After one of these conversations, one of the youngsters said the following:

“Now all those experiences and knowledge settle in me (I also read other stories, presented in a sadder touch than today’s meeting), so with that comes a surge of emotions, but I must admit that thanks to the energy and character of Mrs. Skleničková, I actually left in a good mood.”

In Lviv, the youngsters had to switch to an online performance last minute for their performance “Act of Remembrance”. In this piece, the youngsters told the story of Mykola Petrenko as recorded by the team of the history project #unheard. Mykola Petrenko was an eyewitness in the Holocaust and this performance is in honor of his story and all the other unheard stories of the Holocaust.

In Kaunas, the performance “Memory Office” took place. The performance was a part of the bigger programme in one of Kaunas’ Gymnasiums. One of the students in the audience commented after this performance: „We‘ve went to see „Hamlet“ recently in the National theatre. This performance was better.”

In Budapest, the youngsters organized a walking tour for their performance Re/Fraction. The walk centers around locations around the Klauzasquare and takes the visitors along memorial sites of the former ghetto of Budapest. In this performance, the locations were just as significant as the text that was performed.

Academy Berlin performed their piece via livestream. Rückwärts is an audiovisual and dance performance based on questions such as: How can we commemorate what has happened during the holocaust today? How can we tackle this big issue in small ways? Which emotions are connected to this? What makes us trip up in life and why? When do I turn around and look back – and when do I look away? What do you see passing you by?

We were amazed, touched and moved by all of the performances. It remindes us again of the fact that this history is a shared one and commemorating can only be done together. A big thank you to all of our international partners:

Academy Berlin, Germany Itt es MostTarsulat, Hungary Post Bellum Czech Republic Stowarzyszenie Praktykow Dramy Stop/Klatka, Poland Kaunas 2022 & Atminties Vietos, Lithuania Casa del Teatro ragazzi e Giovanni, Italy Teatre Brama, Poland Museum Territory of Terror, Ukraine