Human Fates in the Shadow of the Holocaust

21. 06. 2024

And I'll take my mom's hand, smile at her and say:
"We'll get through this, won't we, my dear mom!"

Yesterday, Radana Rutová and Hanka Čadová presented a lecture on Human Fates in the Shadow of the Holocaust at the Bohumil Hrabal Gymnasium in Nymburk. The students of the gymnasium were thus introduced to the fate of Jews during and after the Second World War.

Radana focused on the topic of the so-called Czech Auxiliary Actions and the end of the war in Terezín, providing insight into the complicated situation after the liberation of the ghetto, which was plagued by a typhus epidemic. She explained why the repatriation of Terezín prisoners was difficult and why it did not happen immediately after liberation.

Hanka Čadová explored the human stories behind the Holocaust, and showed how working with archival materials from local district archives helps put faces and stories back on Holocaust victims. The archival materials help create a more holistic picture of their lives. They help people today to make sense of their lives and stories. Without these documents, they would only know them as lists of names and numbers. Digitizing archival records then makes it easier for people to access archival records, and allows them to reconstruct the stories of people in their family or their town.

We would like to thank Bohumil Hrabal Grammar School in Nymburk for their welcome and attention. We would also like to thank the Czech-German Future Fund, the Foundation for Holocaust Victims, and Lindat for the opportunity to give the lecture.

A follow-up lecture on this topic will be held in the autumn at the Nymburk Municipal Library.

Human Fates in the Shadow of the Holocaust

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