"Die vertriebenen Kinder" ("The Expelled Children")
Film screening and discussion of the graphic novel
On 1 October 1938, the Wehrmacht occupied the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. After the Second World War, the German population was expelled from Czechoslovakia, including thousands of children. In the GDR, silence was kept about the expulsion by the fraternal state; perceived injustice and personal suffering were suppressed.
Today, more and more Czechs are focussing on the history of the Germans and their expulsion after the end of the war. One of them is the Prague historian Jan Blažek. He has conducted numerous interviews with displaced persons. Now very old, they told him their stories, which they experienced as children in the post-war period. What were they able to take with them when they were expelled from their homeland and what did they have to leave behind? What awaited them in the collection and labour camps, in the cattle wagons and finally in bombed-out Germany? When and under what conditions were they able to see the places of their childhood again for the first time and where do they feel at home today?
The writer Marek Toman reworked these memories in literary form and thus created the scenario for the visual realisation in a graphic novel. Five young Czech illustrators gave the respective stories an individual artistic character.
The graphic novel will be accompanied by a film screening and a moderated discussion between the author Jan Blažek and Dr Jens Baumann, Saxon State Commissioner for Expellees and Late Repatriates.
Moderation: Melanie Haase, Head of the People and Society Department, Volkshochschule Dresden e.V.
Admission free
An event organised by the Bautzner Straße Dresden Memorial in cooperation with the Volkshochschule Dresden e. V. It is sponsored by Sächsisches Staatsministerium des Inneren.
An event as part of the Tschechisch-Deutsche Kulturtage 2024.
