Workshop Just an Ordinary Day for MIIC – 22.7.2025

This week, a group of students from the US (some with Czech family ties) has visited us as part of their summer school in the Czech Republic organised by the Mestenhauser Institute for International Collaboration (MIIC).

During our time together in Jáchymka we had different activities covering the topic of Nazi persecution and the Holocaust in a local context. We tried to draw lines from the past to the present, discussing the dangers of the undermining the rule of law and its often slow and hidden way to sneak up on us and that the loss of rights of parts of our societies, even though not directly target on us, is also an attack on our rights as citizens in general.
The students were further invited the dive into their own small research projects connecting the learned effects of the anti-Jewish laws and regulations with personal stories and locations in Josefov, the former Jewish quarter.
We ended our workshop with a reflection on that newly learned knowledge, its application in the present and an outlook to the future.

Here are some comments of the students during the reflection:

“I will be more cautious of how your rights can slowly disappear.”

“I will take the stories of real people with me, both the photos we talked about on the tour and in the exhibit in the front hall.”

“[I will] tell my teacher I want to revisit this topic and learn even more.”

A big thanks to the organisers, and especially to the participants for their many interesting questions, the motivation to work with us on this topic and their honest reflections.

We wish you all the best for the future – hope to see you again!

Here’s some more information about MIIC:

Building on the legacy of Prof. Josef Mestenhauser, a Czech emigree to the US (Minnesota) and a leading scholar in international education, the MIIC is a non-profit based in the Czech Republic aiming to empower people and organisations with intercultural competences.

Read also

• Alpine Peace Crossing
• Anne Frank Day
• Visit from the APC
• GEDENKDIENST
• We have new books!
• Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust in the Treblinka labour camp
• Commemorative act in Lety u Písku
• Opening of the Museum of Survivors in Brněnec
• Reception at the British Embassy - Anniversary of the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen
• "It is our responsibility to remember their fate." – Josef Rosensaft: Excursion to Bergen-Belsen