The Jewish Culture Festival will showcase the history of Moravian synagogues

Olomouc - The sixth annual Festival of Jewish Culture will offer theater and film performances, concerts, lectures, and exhibitions. It will take place in Olomouc for the second time, and its central theme will be the fates of three Central Moravian synagogues - in Olomouc, Kroměříž, and Holešov. Organizers announced this to journalists today.
    The festival, aimed at reminding the role of the Jewish community in the Moravian region, is organized by the Theatre of Music in collaboration with the Museum of Art, Palacký University, and the Jewish Community of Olomouc.
    According to the production of the theater, Alexander Jeništa, the central motif was intentionally chosen. "In 2009, we remember several anniversaries, mostly very grim, related to the year 1939. One of them, apart from the beginning of World War II, is also the pre-war plundering, destruction, and burning," he told ČTK.
    Therefore, the organizers prepared an exhibition and a collection of three lectures dedicated not only to the fate of all three synagogues but also to their architect - the Viennese architect Jakob Gartner. He built a total of seven in Moravia, and not a single one has survived to this day.
    Visitors will be able to see preserved artifacts and archival materials from all three synagogues destroyed 60 years ago. "There will even be an authentic amateur film of the burning of the Holešov synagogue," added Jeništa.
    The cultural and artistic part of the festival will be richer than last year. It will include four theatrical performances and two concerts. For example, the French klezmer band Glik will visit Olomouc, and the opening concert will feature a chamber trio led by cellist Jiří Hošek.
    "We believe that the second year will be even more successful and will lay the groundwork for the continuation of the festival," said Tomáš Hrbek from the Jewish Community of Olomouc. They will prepare kosher refreshments for the festival. He added that one of the highlights should be meetings with the Chief Regional Rabbi Karol Sidon, as well as a memorial act at Palach Square, where the Olomouc synagogue once stood.
    The organizers have not forgotten about schools. Meetings with eyewitness Miloš Dobrý, who experienced the Holocaust, will again be organized for them. "Last year, over 1,000 people attended these lectures," added Zdeněk Krajcar from the Theatre of Music.
    The Festival of Jewish Culture Olomouc 2009 will take place at the Theatre of Music and in the Mozarteum hall of the Archdiocesan Museum from October 20 to 25.