Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick

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Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick (* 1951 in Schwäbisch Gmünd ) is a German author and publisher. She mainly deals with the subject of the Holocaust .

Life

Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick studied German, philosophy and theater studies in Tübingen , Munich and Berlin . She then worked for the emigrated writer Hans Rothe from 1976 to 1978 and then worked for the American writer Peter Wyden for many years . Wyden, who was born in Berlin in 1923 and whose parents emigrated to the USA with him in 1937 , often returned to Germany after the Second World War and until his death in 1998 to collect material for his books about the Nazi era . Brenner-Wonschick did research in particular for Wyden's books The Wall. Inside Story of Devided Berlin and Stella .

Since 1989, Brenner-Wonschick has been active in the broadcasting sector, in particular as a radio author. While preparing for a radio feature about the children's opera Brundibár by Hans Krása , which was played 55 times in the Theresienstadt concentration camp with the participation of children imprisoned there, she met some survivors from Auschwitz and Theresienstadt in 1996 . The idea arose to pass on the experiences and fate of the " Children of Theresienstadt ", of whom only a few survived the Nazi extermination camps , and to preserve them for posterity. Every autumn between 1998 and 2004, Brenner-Wonschick met a group of survivors in Spindleruv Mlyn in the Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic . A comprehensive international project with a radio feature, book, play and (traveling) exhibition developed from these working meetings.

Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick lives with her daughter in Berlin.

Work on the Holocaust

Radio

In 1997, the Sender Freies Berlin produced the radio feature 'Brundibár and the Children of Theresienstadt' by Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick for the first time. In 1998 the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) re-produced the feature with recordings of excerpts from the Brundibár production of the Vienna Boys' Choir. The radio feature tells the background story of the first performances of this children's opera in Prague and Theresienstadt using original documents and eyewitness memories. The children's opera by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister was first published together with this radio production on EDA Records and is still available today, 2016. This is followed by further radio broadcasts about 'Die Mädchen von Zimmer' and about the violinist Paul Kling, who belonged to the group of Theresienstadt composers in Theresienstadt. In 1998 she published the play Ghetto Tears 1944. Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 . It was performed in Freiburg, Salzburg and Ingolstadt.

The girls from room 28

The book is a documentary report on the fate of a group of Jewish , mostly Czech girls between the ages of twelve and fourteen who were locked up in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in room 28 of the girls' home L 410 between 1942 and 1944 and who were destined to live in to be killed in the extermination camps. 30 square meters for about 30 girls, 4 wooden plank beds, two and three stories above each other: Mostly there were three girls who shared a bed and “the fear of being transported was always in the room - but if a place to sleep was available, new girls came”. Of the roughly 60 girls who were imprisoned in room 28 over the years, 15 survived the Holocaust. Ten of them, who live all over the world, meet once a year to this day to share their memories and pass them on so that the events are not forgotten.

This book was made possible primarily by the diary of the Vienna Auschwitz survivor Helga Pollak , supplemented by the calendar diary of her father Otto Pollak and the reference to a large number of other documents (poetry albums, letters, notes, children's drawings, letters, photos, interviews with contemporary witnesses, etc. .). The book depicts “a counterworld in solidarity in the National Socialist terror of redemption,” said Gottfried Wagner in a review in the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse in June 2004. In her review in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit in September 2004, the literary critic Susanne Mayer “faced the dilemma Wanting to recommend a book, "the reading of which triggers intense anxiety" and made it into the non-fiction best-list 24-200 in no time ”, and finds in her criticism that“ the [se] story of a children's home in Theresienstadt ”“ leads to a limit of the bearable, to where compassion, fear and shame lie in wait for us and the stimulus to turn away ”. She adds the thought to this sentence: "To withstand this, isn't that what historical memory has to do?"

The book published by the Munich publishing house Droemer Knaur was published almost simultaneously as a licensed edition by Weltbild Verlag in Augsburg under the title I hope that we will meet again somewhere. Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 in Theresienstadt (2005), as a paperback edition by Knaur-Taschenbuchverlag (2006), as a new edition by Aufbau Verlag in Berlin (2008) and in translations into Czech (2007), English (Schocken Books, New York, 2009) and Polish (Weltbild / Swiat, Warsaw, 2013) and Brazilian (Leya publishing house). Since July 2010 there has only been the assembly edition, since 2014 the remaining copies have been available from Edition Room 28 . All rights are with the author.

Play

The theater play Ghetto Tears 1944. Zimmer 28, Mädchenheim L 410, Theresienstadt , created by Brenner-Wonschick in 1998 , was performed in 2003 as a musical theater piece in an adaptation by Hildegard Lichtschlag under the title Maagal by the music theater workshop of the Freiburg Music School in Freiburg im Breisgau . The first performance of the actual play took place in 2005 by the Theater AG of the Freiburg Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium under the direction of Elmar Wittmann. This was followed by a performance in Ingolstadt.

As a youth opera, it was edited in 2009 under the title Die Mädchen von Theresienstadt for the “School Project Series” of the Philharmonic Choir of the City of Bonn . The British composer David Graham , who lives in Bonn, was commissioned with the composition , the libretto was written by Kerstin Baldauf and the rehearsal was carried out by Thomas Neuhoff . Directed by Kerstin Baldauf, the premiere took place in January 2010 in Bonn, followed by numerous performances in Bonn, Cologne and Aachen. Since the material 'The girls from room 28' is protected, the youth opera cannot be resumed in its present form.

Traveling exhibition

In 2004, Brenner-Wonschick conceived the exhibition 'The Girls from Room 28, L 410, Theresienstadt'. The exhibition consists of 23+ exhibition boards. Against the historical background, the boards illustrate the story of the “girls from room 28” in Theresienstadt: the everyday life of children and special aspects of this everyday life such as lessons, music, drawing and their fear. In addition, outstanding events are presented, such as the founding of the "organization" of the girls of Zimmer 28 - the Maagal (Hebrew for circle and figuratively perfection ) - the performances of the Brundibár children's opera , the visit of the commission of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the transports to the extermination camps. The aim of the Room 28 project to create a permanent place for the exhibition and to keep the legacy of the 'girls from Room 28' and that of the prisoners from Theresienstadt alive is supported by the Berlin association Room 28 eV , founded in 2007 .

The exhibition was shown for the first time in Schwerin in 2004 , where it was part of the program accompanying a competition Ostracized Music organized by the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Association of Jeunesses Musicales . The organizer invited eight of the “girls from room 28” still alive to Schwerin, which was particularly supported by the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” foundation . From then on, Brenner-Wonschick took over the management of the traveling exhibition, which has since been shown in Berlin-Kreuzberg , Freiburg im Breisgau, Leipzig and Salzburg as well as in Überlingen on Lake Constance, where seven of the contemporary witnesses were guests.

In 2008 the exhibition was shown in the Paul-Löbe-Haus of the German Bundestag in Berlin, whereby the "room 28" from the Theresienstadt concentration camp was recreated. The exhibition in the Paul-Löbe-Haus was part of the supporting program to commemorate the victims of National Socialism and part of the youth exchange program of the German Bundestag. At the same time, the Aufbau Verlag published the new edition of the book Die Mädchen von Zimmer 28 , and eight of the contemporary witnesses were guests in Berlin.

By the end of 2009, around 30 exhibitors in Germany and abroad had the exhibition in their program. In 2006 there was an exhibition for the Czech Republic, in 2009 one for France . In January 2013 the exhibition had more than 50 exhibition locations in Germany and more in the Czech Republic, Austria, France and England. An English-language exhibition, extended by eleven panels, was on view at the European Commission in Brussels as part of the Holocaust Remembrance Day and formed the thematic focus of the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony on January 28, 2013 in the Berlaymont Building. At the memorial hour, the author and diary writer Helga Pollak-Kinsky read from the book / Theresienstadt diary. The reading was accompanied by songs by the Theresienstadt cabaret and sung by Ilse Weber by the Berlin ensemble "Zwockhaus". On the recommendation of the European Commission, the exhibition opened on January 27, 2014 at the United Nations in Geneva. The guest of honor and keynote speaker at the official United Nations memorial ceremony in Geneva on January 28, 2014 was Helga Pollak-Kinsky, who accompanied the memorial concert with a reading together with Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick.

Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick founded Edition Room 28 in 2014 . The first book was published on February 16, 2014. Author: Helga Pollak-Kinsky. Title: My Theresienstadt Diary 1943–1944 and the notes of my father Otto Pollak .

Room 28 Projects and Association Room 28 e. V.

The multimedia project , which developed into a radio feature, book, play and exhibition, met with a great international response and a circle of friends and supporters emerged. This led to the establishment of the Room 28 initiative in 2006 on the occasion of the annual meeting of the surviving “Girls from Room 28” in the Czech town of Spindleruv Mlyn . The aim of the initiative was to work with the contemporary witnesses to realize the European project "The Last Chord: Theresienstadt" conceived by Brenner-Wonschick. The initiative became the forerunner of Room 28 eV, which was founded a year later in Berlin. As a member of the board of the Room 28 eV association, Brenner-Wonschick realized numerous, also international, cultural and contemporary witness projects. The cultural agency Room 28 Projects offers a varied accompanying program for the traveling exhibition and performances of the Brundibár children's opera , such as eyewitness talks, concerts, films, readings and theater performances. In 2014 Room 28 Projects was replaced by the Edition Room 28 .

In 2007, the Room 28 eV association was founded and supports the tasks and goals of the Room 28 Project . The association, which is recognized as a non-profit organization, has its headquarters in Berlin and is chaired by Brenner-Wonschick and Frank Harders-Wuthenow.

Works (selection)

Radio features

  • The Girls from Room 28 , SDR, 2004.
  • Brundibár and the children of Theresienstadt . Production for the SFB 1997 and for the ORF, Vienna 1998.
  • A life on four strings. The violinist Paul Kling , SDR

Audio CDs

  • Brundibár and the children of Theresienstadt . Radio feature, Edition Abseits (EDA), EDA no. 015, 1999.

Plays

  • Ghetto tears 1944. Room 28, Girls' Home L 410, Theresienstadt . First version 1998.

Books

Booklet for the exhibition "The Girls from Room 28" (German and Czech edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b See information about Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick. (No longer available online.) In: Contact / Imprint. Internet presence of the Room 28 Project , archived from the original on April 19, 2010 ; Retrieved April 11, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.room28projects.com
  2. a b c "The girls from room 28, L 410". Humanistic Press Service (hpd), February 15, 2008, accessed April 13, 2010 .
  3. Gottfried Wagner: "While singing we forgot our hunger". Die Presse , Vienna, June 5, 2004, accessed on April 11, 2010 .
  4. Review note on Die Zeit, September 16, 2004. In: Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick. The girls from room 28. Perlentaucher.de , accessed on April 11, 2010 .
  5. Susanne Mayer : The sweet nothing. “The girls from room 28” report on survival in the children's home in Theresienstadt. Die Zeit Nr. 39/2004, September 16, 2004, accessed on April 11, 2010 .
  6. See the play. (No longer available online.) Internet presence of the Room 28 Project , archived from the original on February 2, 2009 ; Retrieved April 13, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.room28projects.com
  7. See school project 2010. (No longer available online.) Bach Association Cologne , archived from the original on March 13, 2010 ; Retrieved April 13, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bach-verein.de
  8. Info flyer "The girls from room 28". ( PDF file; 2.0 MB) (No longer available online.) German Bundestag , archived from the original on April 11, 2014 ; accessed on April 13, 2010 ( flyer for the exhibition in January / February 2008 in the German Bundestag). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundestag.de
  9. ^ Edition Room 28, Berlin, 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-043804-2