EXAMPLES OF MEDIA COVERAGE
2006
Mohelnice reporter, June 2006 link
PAINTING IN LOSTICE SYNAGOGUE
The weather during this year Witchcraft weekend was quite cold. A thermometer stopped on 6C , on Sunday it did not exceed 4 Celsius and it was raining all day long. People didn't go outside and streets were empty. Nevertheless, suddenly a group of moving figures appeared in Lostice. It showed that these figures were not witches who lost a direction for Peter's Stones in a bad weather, but students from Art School Olesska from Prague . This school prepares students for entrance examinations to the School of Architecture . Weekend courses in painting and drawing are part of their program.
Last year there were two such plein airs organized in Usov with kind and intensive assistance of the foundation Respect and tolerance.
Mr. Stipl, who is a coordinator of the foundation, devoted his time to students last year and this year as well. He prepared a lecture for them about the synagogue, history of Jewish community in Lostice and he informed them about interesting results of his research. At the end, there was a concert by Mr. John Podmolik and his friends from Olomouc , who played on an old musical instrument shofar . An experience from the lecture and concert was so intensive and respect to spiritual tradition of this place was so real that the students were whispering also the second day in the synagogue, although nobody demand it from them.
Later young artists studied unique publications in the Respect and Tolerance library and in Mohelnice Museum . The Mayor of the town Ctirad Lolek looked after students, welcomed them in the Town Hall and he cared for them during their work. Even though, weather was cold, the students were going away with many paintings, but also with warm memories of interesting history and kind people of Lostice. They will spread the good news far away on their exhibitions and presentations. Mr. Mayor, Mr Stipl we thanked you very much.
Josef Dudek, manager of creative section, Art School Olesska, Praha
Moravsky Sever, June 1, 2006 link1 link2
BOOK CONNECTS AMERICA WITH LOSTICE
Lostice. The story is almost unbelievable. Two women touched hands, though they are separated by an ocean and by a century and a half. Poet Dinah Berland lives in Los Angeles . Fanny Neuda lived one-hundred-and-fifty years ago in Lostice. Fanny's book connected them, and this week they "met." Dinah came here to become familiar with the place where the wife of the Lostice rabbi created Hours of Devotion. Dinah is currently preparing a new edition of the book.
"I lived through a difficult period and was separated from my son for many years. It was hard for me and I searched for help," said Dinah yesterday in the synagogue. In 2003 [actually 1998] she discovered in a used bookstore [a copy of] the first English edition of Hours of Devotion from 1866.
"The book touched me, especially the 'Prayer for a Mother Whose Child is Abroad.' What's interesting is that [less than] a year after [finding the book] my son returned, and we have a very close relationship now," added Dinah. Dinah works in the publications department of the J. Paul Getty Museum. She decided to produce a new updated edition of [Fanny Neuda's] book. During her research she found the website of Respect and Tolerance, which douments the history of the local Jewish community. She asked for the foundation's cooperation. Now they are going through cemeteries and synagogues together and are finding "genus loci" (the spirit) of Fanny's home.Fanny's husband, Rabbi Abraham Neuda, became known for his fight for the right to preach in German instead of in Hebrew, so his people would better understand him. Fanny became a widow quite early in her life. Se died in 1894 in Merano.
Dinah Berland believes that at the present time Judaism is returning to [an interest in] mysticism and to its spiritual roots and that Fanny Neuda's book fits within this movement. Dinah revealed that it is the first book [of its kind] written by a Jewish woman for women. Hours of Devotion (Stunden der Andacht) consists of prayers and meditations for different situations in life. It was a pioneer work, and shortly after its creation in 1854 [and publication in 1855] the book became a best seller and was reprinted many times. In 2007 the new [English] edition will be published by Schocken Books in New York , one of the largest publishers of Judaic literature. Dinah will submit her manuscript to the publisher by July 1. She commissioned a new translation from German to modern English and then transformed the text into poems. "My visit to Lostice has been a great inspiration for me, and I hope I will be able to share my experience with my readers," she said. Tomorrow Dinah [begins her journey] back to the United States.
Caption: In the Synagogue. Dinah Berland visits Lostice Synagogue yesterday with Mayor Ctirad Lolek.
Moravsky Sever, June 7, 2006 link
HE FIRST RECOGNITION BELONGS to „Vetrnik“
The choir mistress Svatava Simkova and children's choir „Vetrnik“ from Lostice received the first Award of Fanny Neuda, which was established by a local foundation Respect and Tolerance. This foundation is interested in Jewish history in our region and founded the prize to commemorate a Jewish woman writer who lived and wrote in the 19 th century in Loštice. “We would like to give this prize every year to students and teachers for successful projects, representation of school and town or for praiseworthy function in the field of education, art, culture and human rights”, said a member of the foundation Ludek Stipl. A sum of 3 000 Crowns is part of the Award this year. The members of foundation gave the reward to the choir mistress during a concert in the Lostice Synagogue. Children were singing for an American Dinah Berland, who is preparing a book Hours of Devotion by Fanny Neuda for publication.
“The award was a big surprise for me, money will be certainly used for work of our choir”, said Simkova. Vetrnik exists from 1999 and often perform Jewish songs on Respect and Tolerance functions. The choir was honored this year in May. Jewish Museum in Prague invited Vetrnik to the Spanish Synagogue to sing there in concert commemorating the end of WWII.
Moravsky Sever, May 16, 2006 link
THE WAR turned JEWISH GIRL to Parisiene
The Renown Artist Exhibited in Olomouc , perhaps next year her work will be seen in Mohelnice
From mid March to mid May the Museum of Art in Olomouc belonged to a Parisiene painter, graphic artist and sculptor Terry Haass. An exhibition Light – Time - Space introduced her works of art from 1940s to present. Visitors learned from the catalogue that before the WWII this artist lived in a nearby town of Mohelnice. If here had not been a German occupation and Jewish descent, perhaps she would have lived all her life here. She is the Parisian because of the war.
Terry Haass was born in Cesky Tesin in 1923. Before the war, she lived with her mother Adolfina and her brother Ferdinand in Mohelnice in the home of her grandfather Ferdinand Grimm. He owned a house and a fashion shop opposite of the St. Thomas church. Terry attended a Girls College in Olomouc. She left the country with her family after the German army invaded Sudeten part of Czechoslovakia. Several relatives including her father perished in the Holocaust. Her grandfather Ferdinand Grimm died in 1934 and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Usov.
“We knew from German witnesses that in 1930s a young Jewish girl lived in Grimm's household and later became a successful artist, but they did not recall her name so our research was not successful. When we learned about the exhibition in Olomouc , we contacted the curator Gina Renotiere and received more information, which proofed Terry Haass has her roots in Mohelnice…,” said Luděk Štipl.
To New York and Back
Terry Haass left Mohelnice with her family in 1939. The same year, she started to study at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris . After outbreak of the war she went across Portugal and Spain to New York , where she received a scholarship at the Art Student League. She studied art during her 10 years stay in the United States . She also worked in famous Atelier 17 under S. W. Hayter and she met foremost representatives of abstract expressionism there (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and others). In 1950 she started to teach graphic arts at the N.Y. City College and she met Albert Einstein, whose theory about space and time influenced her future work.
By the end of 1951 Terry returned to Paris and started to work in the Lacouriere studio. Through her work in Paris she meet many important contemporary artists (Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, André Masson and others). Besides art she devoted her time to classical archeology. After receiving a degree in archeology from the Ecole du Louvre she took a part in archeology expeditions to Turkey , Lebanon , Israel , Iran and Afghanistan . Experience from expeditions influenced her art and also her writing. Terry's book Inanna, which was published in 1961, is inspired by Sumerian poetry from the third millennium BC. During 1960s she worked as an artist and also as archeologist, while from early 1970s she concentrates on art – especially on painting, graphic art and sculptures made of plexiglass or steel. Her work is shown in major galleries and museums in France , Italy , Germany , Denmark , United States and other countries.
Terry Haas received many medals and awards including the Silver Medal for sculpture from Bilan de l‘Art Contemporain, Quebec , Canada and the Gold Medal for sculpture from Akademie Leonardo da Vinci, Rom , Italy .
Her work is represented in several foremost public and private collections e.g.: Museum of Modern Art , New York; Guggenheim Museum , New York; Museum of Art, San Francisco; Smithsonian Institute , Washnigton, DC; Kunstmuseum Basel ; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Vile Paris ; Victoria and Albert Museum , London; Muzeum umeni, Olomouc; Baronix Alix von Rothschild , Paris, J. J. Rockefeller j.r ., New York and many others.
Photos:
Father and children. Grandfather F. Grimm with his son and daughters.
Happy years. Terry Haass with her younger brother Ferdinand. (Both photos from the Exhibition catalogue Terry Haass 2006).
Street and house, which was owned by Grimms since 2005
Promotional material for Ferdinand Grimm Fashion Store (Big Christmas Sale 1928)
Ferdinand Grimm's tombstone
2005
ROVNOST
Brno - Friday June 25th, 2004
Victims of the Holocaust Resurrected at the Exhibition in Lostice
They perished in Treblinka, Terezin or Auschwitz. Greta and Lisa Hirsch, Mr. and Mrs. Hirsch, Eckstein family, Kurt Schnitzler and many others. After more than 60 years they were symbolically brought back to life in memories, stories, documents and photographs, which were displayed in the Lostice synagogue.
The exhibition titled Remembering Jewish Families of Lostice presented results of work and research done by the team, Respect and Tolerance, which was founded about a year ago. The exhibition was organized together with the conference and Meeting of Friends of Jewish Culture. The conference was attended by several professionals and experts including Dr. Milos Pojar – the former ambassador to Israel, Jaroslav Achab Haidler – foremost Hebraist and descendents of the Morgenstern family, who now live in Seattle, Prague, Vilnius and other cities and countries. Before the war their granny Laura Morgenstern worked as midwife in Lostice, but she perished during the Holocaust.
Dr. Stanton Canter, one of the project's initiators also accepted the invitation and came to conference from USA.
OLOMOUCKY DEN - MORAVSKY SEVER
Olomouc, Sumperk - Friday July 9th, 2004
Lostice Synagogue Brought Back to Life for Three More Days
Lostice. The exhibition held in the synagogue during a meeting of friends of Jewish culture in Lostice was reinstalled and open for public viewing during this long weekend. "Visitors and the mayor asked for an extension so we were happy to prolong it. During the exhibition visitors brought to the synagogue new information, photographs and artifacts such as: collection of prayer straps called tefillin from late 19th century and photographs of a Lostice Jewish family from 1930s. We already put some newly acquired material on display,” said chief of the working team Ludek Stipl.
Visitors had the opportunity to turn over the leaves of the diary of the local policemen Blechta, who kept a record of names, events and incidents of Jewish and Christian inhabitants in Lostice between 1901 and 1915. This diary in a form facsimile was introduced for the first time to the public this weekend. Also for the first time visitors had the opportunity to see a fragment of Torah from the 18th century and the complete Scroll of Esther from circa 1850, which was donated to the project by a private collector from Sumperk.
OLOMOUCKY DEN - MORAVSKY SEVER
Olomouc, Sumperk - Friday August 27th, 2004
Jewish Songs Played During the Opening in the Synagogue
Usov. The exhibition Remembering Jewish Families of the Lostice Area was opened last weekend in Usov. The exhibition was organized by the Respect and Tolerance team to commemorate the Jewish poet and writer Vlastimil Artur Polak (1914 – 1990), who was born in Usov 90 years ago.
Professor Ludvik Vaclavek from the Palacky University in Olomouc, focused in his speech on Polak's recently published works – a collection of old Jewish tales and legends "Bila pani z ghetta" (The White Lady of the Ghetto) and a collection of poetry Uhasly svicen (A Snuffed Candelabra). Professor Vaclavek, an expert on Polack's literature and his friend of many years, explained why the former government did not support the publishing of Polak's books. Mrs. Olga Polak, the wife of the poet and the translator of his works, talked about her life with the artist and about his family background. She was very pleased that the synagogue was filled to the very last seat with people who were interested in her husband's life and work.
Hana Heidenreichova and Ludek Stipl, members of the Foundation Respect and Tolerance, informed visitors about the documentation of the Jewish history and culture in the Lostice area.
The highlight of the evening was a concert of the music trio, "Czech Strings”. Musicians Radim Koncitek (guitar), Petra Lexova and Antonin Prihoda (violin) prepared a special program, which gripped the audience. The concert consisted of Jewish songs interspersed by readings of Polak's poetry and tales. Immediately after the concert the musicians received offers to take part in other functions. Members of "Czech Strings” live in Ireland, where they perform and teach classical music. They have made a commitment to cooperate on Respect and Tolerance programs in the future.
“Happy melodies with a touch of melancholy, pleasantly familiar yet mysterious music, and the environment - a decorated synagogue light by candles, created an atmosphere which is impossible to describe or forget”, said one of the excited visitors.
© 2007 Developed by Jaroslav Brachtl AFirma.cz