2015

A LOOK BACK AT DRUMMING FOR BUBNY

19 November 2015

... We are convinced that this year's commemoration of the first transport from Prague will not remain a thing of the past. Many participants have asked whether a similar inimitable atmosphere might just be repeated at the same place. Our answer is that in a year we will almost certainly disrupt the silence of looking on quietly at past and current events... and future events in a year, too..
Yes, hopefully we have succeeded in establishing a new form of remembrance.

Thank you to the many photographers who sent their visual remembrances from Drumming for Bubny.

The selection published here is from Jan Dobrovský, David Peltán and students from the Secondary Technical School of Communications in Panská Street.

Photographs by Jan Dobrovský

Photographs by Davit Peltán

Photographs by students from the Secondary Technical School of Communications in Panská Street

We look forward to next year, along with the further transformation of Bubny train station into the Bubny Memorial of Silence.

ECHOES OF “DRUMMING FOR BUBNY” IN THE CZECH SENATE

22 October 2015

The final echoes of "Drumming for Bubny" reverberated this morning at the Wallenstein Palace.

At a meeting of the upper chamber of the Czech parliament, the senators heard a brief presentation about the Memorial of Silence, accompanied by the band Tam Tam Batucada under the direction of Miloš Vacík.

First vice-chairman of the senate Přemysl Sobotka stated that every way of making sure that the wartime events will not be forgotten is important. Many meanings remain current, and past phenomena have a way of repeating themselves.

We should add in conclusion that the Senate chambers have excellent acoustics for drumming.

DRUMMING FOR BUBNY IN PRAGUE

16 October 2015, 5pm - 7 pm

MORE THAN WORDS!

Hundreds of people gathered in the pouring rain under Aleš Veselý's sculpture Gate to Infinity, determined to brave the mud and cold.
Joined by wartime survivors, diplomats from Kosovo, Albania, Finland, Bulgaria, Germany and Israel, the mayor of Prague Adriana Krnáčová, and the mayor of Prague 7 Jan Čižinský, they spent more than an hour and a half drumming in order to express their stand against a silent majority passively looking on during a time of general endangerment.

The organizers of this public gathering, survivors, and members of the Terezín initiative,
who came to Bubny in the footsteps of their own wartime stories, would like to thank all those who participated.

The rhythm was defined by Miloš Vacík's Tam Tam Batucada orchestra and drummers David Koller, Alan Vitouš, Jan Červenka, Jaroslav Kořán, Jan Horváth, Papis Mias, Vít Halška and Lenka Dundrová.

Gathered under umbrellas, the crowd watched a 40-minute "warm-up session" by musicians and actors from various Prague theaters.
Jana Boušková, Václav Vydra, Nela Boudová and Bára Hrzánová read quotes by Czech and international authors. QUOTATION_EN.pdf

This was followed by the group drumming, which did not begin to die down until an hour and a half later. Some 360 participants played on drums made using money raised from a HitHit fundraiser. Another 100 drummers brought their own instruments.

Special thanks go to Mr. Libor Winkler and Mr. Jean-Francois Otto for their significant financial support.
Thanks also go to the Czech Ministry of Culture and the Prague 7 Municipal District.

Next year, on the 75th anniversary of the first Jewish transport from Prague, we will again meet at Prague-Bubny train station in order to drum against a silent majority passively looking on!

In the meantime, we will continue to drum for the Bubny Memorial of Silence on its path towards realization.

You can follow our project's ongoing development on our website and on Facebook.

Thank you very much!

DRUMMING FOR DRUMS WITH MADELEINE ALBRIGHT AT THE CZECH EMBASSY

15 October 2015

The Embassy of the Czech Republic has organized Drumming for Drums (Bubnování pro Bubny) with special guest, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, onOctober 15, at 6 pm, at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC.

The event commemorated the day (October 16, 1941) that the first Nazi transport of Jews set out from the Prague-Bubny Railway Station. The deportations of Prague Jews and the expulsion of Prague Germans after WWII caused the city to lose its traditional identity. Prague lost 50,000 of its residents, who perished. The transports took place while the city kept silent.

Drumming for Drums in DC was held in solidarity with a special event taking place a day later in Prague at the actual train station from which the transports departed—Prague-Bubny Railway Station. The word "bubny" means "drums" in English. The drumming is a call to action against the silence that oppressed and destroyed many lives. A drumbeat echoes, reverberates, remembering the lives lost and the beating heart of humanity. The event is held to raise awareness and funding for the Memorial of Silence in Prague, Czech Republic.

Madeleine Albright greeted the audience and gave a symbolic drum beat that led to whole drum circle performing. The Ambassador Gandalovič, as well as the Czechoslovak WWII veteran Frank Becher, the Israeli Embassy representative Ilan Sztulman, and representative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Anatol Steck joined the drumming circle.

The facilitated drumming circle was lead by Kristen Arant, and her team – Hands on Drums Ensemble with Katy Gone, Kewku Ooosu, Ken Quam, joined by members of the Belly Belly Rhythm Collective. Performance of drumming by Batala Washington, Afro-Brazilian all-female group was a special contribution to drumminng against silence.

Later, Mrs. Albright recorded a video message for Bubnování pro Bubny event in Prague and signed a pair of drumming sticks that the Embassy will present to the Bubny Memorial of Silence as a special gift to commemorate the Drumming for Drums in Washington, DC.

The Memorial of Silence is a project that will transform the Bubny Railway Station, in Prague, Czech Republic into a center for discussion of "the Shoah in us" as a contemporary stigma. The project is carried out by a non-profit organization Memorial Shoah Prague o.p.s. (Památník šoa Praha, o.p.s.). Its main activities at present include the development of the architectural plans and the creating of the script for a memorial's future permanent exhibition. In addition it organizes exhibitions and events for the general public.

Exhibition: A FRAGMENT OF THE MEMORIAL OF SILENCE

14 October 2015 

On 14 October, the exhibition A Fragment of the Memorial of Silence was opened with the participation of survivors and artists who worked with us on the project "The Voices of Family Albums."

The exhibition offered an insight into the work of the memorial's development team.
The "fragment" of the future permanent exhibition is the section entitled 50,000 Forgotten Books.
Those deported through Bubny station will be remembered by an endless river of books... some of which even have memory...

At a press conference held inside the future exhibition space, we received expressions of support from
Bára Hrzánová, Miloš Vacík, Leoš Válka and David Gaydečka.
All participants tried out the instruments made for Friday's Drumming for Bubny event.

The exhibition was open from 1 to 6pm until 25 October 2015.