Under the Auspices of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in Geneva

REMEMBERING AND REBUILDING: Saving Oskar Schindler’s Ark A Multi-Media Travelling Memorial Exhibit © Jaroslav Brabec, Brněnec, 2018 21 January 2019 – 8 February 2019 United Nations Office at Geneva, Palais des Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day official opening of exhibition “Beyond Duty: Diplomats Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations” Under the Auspices of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in Geneva www.arksfoundation.net ARKS Löw-Beer & Schindler Foundation REMEMBERING AND REBUILDING: Saving Oskar Schindler’s Ark THE STORY OF SCHINDLER’S ARK WHO WILL VISIT THE MUSEUM Schindler’s Ark was where Jews on Schin- Schindler’s Ark is one of the two or three dler’s list were saved instead of going to most recognized stories and sites of the Sec- Auschwitz and certain death. ond World War. As a factory it was built with excellent access at the heart of Europe, two In the central scene of the Oscar-winning hours to Prague and Vienna airports and 45 film “Schindler’s List” (1993) by Steven Spiel- minutes to Brno. Similar sites attract hun- berg, if you were on the list, Jews were sent dreds of thousands of visitors per year. to this Ark in the home region of Oskar and Emilie Schindler. The buildings form the The focus will be: only concentration camp, which saved rath- er than exterminated Jews. © Jaroslav Brabec, Brněnec, 2018 School children: school classes from the AIMS AND PRIORITIES Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany Who were Oskar and Emilie Schindler, why and across Europe to watch the film and per- did they do what they did to save the Jews? The foundation has two main aims: sonally engage with witness interviews in the place where it occurred. Additional ac- Would you respond like them now? Save and develop a memorial to Schindler’s tivities in making short interviews, youtu- Ark, Shoah and the Löw-Beer factory for be films, sports and nature trials, with limi- The buildings of Schindler’s Ark are in dis- school children and visitors to experience ted, good value accommodation where the repair and danger of collapse. The Löw-Beer the history and film where it occurred, and Schindler Jews stayed family owned the factory before they had to engage personally with present issues of flee from the Nazis in 1938. discrimination Half day core visit for tourist on the main Prague, Brno and Vienna routes and global In 2018, after eighty years, the Löw-Beers Promote activities which benefit the people tourists visiting history and Jewish sites. have reunited with locals to create the Foun- of Brnenec and the wider Moravian region dation Arks to help save and rebuild Schin- and its promotion at the heart of Europe Seminars and events: to tackle present day dler’s Ark for future school children and vis- issues in this special context, for Jewish, itors. They are committed to save and make In addition, the Foundation will work European, business, musical and cultural history together again. events which reflect on the present and fu- In an independent, open and apolitical ture. manner reflecting the spirit and continu- ing contribution of the Löw-Beer family to the region Daniel Low-Beer Chairman of Arks Foundation and grandson Go to www.arksfoundation.net for of Walter Löw-Beer who ran the textile factory the full consultation document and more. with his brothers August and Felix. ARKS Löw-Beer & Schindler Foundation REMEMBERING PEOPLE IN THESE PLACES: Schindler Jew testimonies In Autumn 1944, Schindler came Spielberg made the same point For every three people, there are to Brnenec and found our family “the Holocaust was as obvious four opinions on who Schindler factory. The Nazi leadership in- as a little girl wearing a red coat, was, and why he and his wife act- sisted his Jewish workers were walking down the street, and yet ed to save the Jews. This debate transferred to Auschwitz and nothing was done to bomb the is important, and keeps the ques- death. German rail lines. Nothing was tion alive of whether you would being done to slow down … the act as they did now? Schindler had seen the murder annihilation of European Jewry. of the Krakow ghetto liquidation Here are some of the Schindler and recalled “No thinking per- So that was my message in let- Jews’ words: son could fail to see what would ting that scene be in colour (in an happen, I was now resolved to do otherwise black and white film)”. everything in my power to defeat the system”. Rena Finder – TEACH CHILDREN ported to Auschwitz and it was a mother is responsible. She pre- NOT TO STAND BY nightmare. Not all victims were pared the hideouts, but some- Jewish, but all the Jews were vic- times there was not enough time: tims. she was desperate, so she gam- bled: one day when the Nazis ap- Not snow but ashes peared at our door - she put me outside the window to hold the At Auschwitz, we tried to catch drain pipe, (in Polish winter of the snowflakes to drink and then -20C), I didn’t die, I was half fro- we realized it wasn’t snow but zen, but alive, when the Nazis left. ashes. Three and a half weeks in Auschwitz was a lifetime. And My father had a store of iron prod- then Oskar sent his secretary ucts, which was outside the ghet- with diamonds to get 300 women to. He made the desperate deci- “Most Holocaust survivors don’t workers back. We were the only sion to obtain a poison (Cyanide). like to talk about their experienc- ones ever let out of Auschwitz The 3 of us sat in a small closed es… we are all afraid that the Hol- alive. And when the train doors room; father poured the poison on ocaust will be forgotten when we opened, Oskar was on the plat- a spoon and approached me. He survivors die. form offering us soup. I will nev- didn’t want me to see them die. er forget that. He gave us life. The warning signs A strong Jewish woman who Forget about hate, but don’t be stood up to the Nazis We must understand the worry- afraid to speak up for what is right... ing signs that precede these ca- In this world of bullying and hate Here, for the first time, my moth- lamities - the racial, cultural and crimes, it’s important to teach er, who was a fragile and small religious arrogance of those who children not to stand by – you woman, always admiring her seek to persecute others. We have have to go and get help. Don’t husband and his decisions, re- to make sure it doesn’t happen in stand by and do nothing.” vealed her determination and our own community. strength: She caught the spoon Eva Lavi – LOST CHILDHOOD and threw it, saying: “no, we’ll not I watched the German Army kill ourselves, there is a God and march down the street. They he will decide for us”. looked human, but they consid- ered us inhuman. They stripped My mother was not afraid of the us of our citizenship, confiscated Nazis! And so she told them, in our homes, businesses and bank her perfect German. When they accounts. We couldn’t walk on started to shout, and ordered her the sidewalk or use public trans- to do something, she answered port. calmly: “Don’t shout! I’m not afraid of you! You can kill me”. We were herded into a ghetto by soldiers and dogs, while other By a miracle and luck I was on people lived normally across the the famous “Schindler List” (The street. Nobody saw, or heard, or Nazis separated her from her cared. And no-one said goodbye “There was no childhood for mother, but Schindler saved her to us. We were invisible. children my age. Regularly, by telling the guards he needed we saw, heard and understood her small fingers to operate ma- Schindler looked at us as people everything the Nazis were do- chinery. Uniquely he saved whole ing to us. They liked their work. families to work). Oskar Schindler was a member They stripped the people not only of the Nazi party. But his workers of their clothes, but also of their Eva now tells her story to school- became his friends – he looked dignity. The children hid, every- children “It’s true testimony from at us as people. where: in sewage systems, pub- someone who was there. The sur- lic toilets, and garbage; not giv- vivors opened their mouths and Germany was losing the war ing in to constant fear. At 6 years began to tell the story. It’s not just against the Allies, but was deter- old, children were cynical. a story. It’s the worst and crue- mined to win against the Jews. lest thing that happened in the When Schindler moved his fac- People say that I’m a child of world.” tory to Brnenec, we were trans- miracles. For most of them my REMEMBERING: Eliska Löw-Beer Saved by a Brazilian Diplomat In September 1938, at 16, Eliška was sent from Czechoslovakia to the new on her back and her little dog. She had only a few sporadic, forwarded International School set up alongside the League of Nations in Geneva, letters from her family. now Ecolint. The school “opened my eyes to a lot of things, that the world didn’t begin and end with me, and I began to think.” She bribed to hide in a train to get to Cannes in Free France, with a let- ter from her mother Gusti Löw-Beer in a hotel.

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