Preserving Memory.
Post-war Reflection on the Holocaust in Monuments and Fine Art 

Provider and number: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic NAKI III DH23P03OVV014
Duration: 2023–2027
Recipient/s: Institute of Art History, CAS and National Heritage Institute
Principal investigator: Eva Janáčová
Research team:  Eva Janáčová, Jakub Hauser, Daniel Polakovič, Blanka Soukupová, Iva Steinová, Markéta Svobodová, Zbyněk Tarant, Petra Vladařová, Aleš Homola, Jana Oberreiterová, Petra Šternová, Zuzana Duchková

The aim of the project is a professional evaluation of the topic of Holocaust monuments and memorials in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, and a post-war reflection on the Holocaust in fine art from the end of World War II until today. The project presents the changing forms and functions of monuments and memorials by using various methodological and theoretical approaches. It not only follows the visual aspects, but also deals with changing minority identities and their influence on monument creation, and in a wider perspective on the individual, collective and cultural memory of the Holocaust and its projection into specific monuments and works of art. The relationship of events to specific places, urban and rural, and the way the monuments deal with the memory of these places will be prioritised. The circumstances in which the monuments originated will make it easier to reveal political and social contexts in different stages of local history from the first post-war years to the present. Some projects can be followed as they originate in real time (Memorial to Silence in Prague – Bubny; Lety Memorial near Písek). The project links the theme of memorials with the way experiences of the Holocaust project themselves into artistic expression in various visual media – not only because related interfaces exist between these fields but also because the two are essentially inseparable (e.g., many realisations by Aleš Veselý; Memorial in the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague). Until now, hardly any attention was devoted to the theme of monuments and memorials, nor to the reflection of the Holocaust in fine art. The project will be the first such initiative to present the theme across the media, presenting major outputs in the form of two exhibitions accompanied by specialised catalogues, two conferences, a professional collective monograph, a specialised public database and interactive maps.

2023

In the first year of the project we organized a home conference called Preserving Memory. Holocaust Memorials and Monuments in the Czech Republic. The conference took place on 24 October 2023 at the Academic Conference Centre in Prague and was attended by nearly 50 visitors. The opening speech was given by Tomáš Winter, Director of the Institute of Art History of the CAS, followed by Michael Pelíšek, Secretary of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic. Afterwards, 14 colleagues, mostly from academia, presented their papers on the topic of research on Holocaust memorials and memorials in the Czech Republic. The conference also offered a wealth of interesting methodological and theoretical concepts.

The conference was covered by the Czech Radio: Shalom Aleichem, 22 October 2023, https://regiony.rozhlas.cz/jak-pomoci-izraeli-jak-dnes-vypada-typicka-zidovska-rodina-a-jake-ma-cr-9096941?fbclid=IwAR22eVKSbZCnOH_ZJlgJ9vGDrtl1zR3szo0Y41G2Bj0E0frk6cp67r1zPPg

2024

In the second year of the project, we organised a two-day international conference entitled Preserving Memory. Holocaust Monuments and Memorials in Central Europe on 17 and 18 September 2024 which focused on the topic of Holocaust monuments and memorials in the context of Central Europe. The conference was held at the Academic Conference Centre in Prague. A total of 21 speakers from Europe, USA and Israel – specifically from the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with which the grant team works closely. The audience included nearly 50 registered guests, most of them from abroad.

The following articles were published in 2024:

Jana Oberreiterová, Pomníky a pamětní desky obětem holokaustu v okresech Znojmo a Břeclav, in: Jižní Morava LX, 2024, pp. 80–111.

Blanka Soukupová, The Terezín Memorial. A City – A Museum and a Distinctive Site of Memory, in: Journal of Urban Ethnology XXII, 2024, pp. 75–86.

Jakub Hauser, International Conference 'Preserving Memory: Holocaust Monuments and Memorials in Central Europe', in: Judaica Bohemiae ILX, 2024, pp. 181–183.