Living Memory - The importance of being memory

Virtual tours of the Auschwitz camp, live testimonies from survivors and streaming shows. Relay until 2022 with the "Captains of Memory".

The Memo Train has stopped because of the pandemic, but memory continues to travel. And the main stop is in Trento where - from 19 to 27 January - "Living Memory" will take place, the first Festival dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day created by the association "Terra del Fuoco Trentino" with the contribution of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Trentino history museum foundation.

The liberation of Auschwitz is commemorated every year on 27 January, but according to the president of the association that gave birth to the the initiative, Denise Rocca, "it risks being a day that speaks only of history, instead of the present, the future and better worlds to build.

The Living Memory project will be divided into two main parts: from 19 to 27 January there will be a calendar of theatre events, exhibitions and workshops to explore the history and memory of the Shoah, culminating in a meeting with two of the last living witnesses of the Holocaust: Oleg Mandic, the last child to enter the gates of Auschwitz, and Lidia Maksymowicz, who was imprisoned in the camp in 1942, when she was only two years old.

The activities are divided into a specific programme for schools, and an experience open to all citizens.

Given the current health situation, the entire project will be available in virtual form at https://www.terradelfuocotrentino.org/living-memory-on-air, so that citizens will have the opportunity not only to attend the events, but also to interact with the protagonists in the various meetings.

The second part of the project involves a series of events starting on 27 January 2021 and will accompany us until 27 January 2022.

And it will also be physical: after a year of closed borders, travelling blocked by the pandemic and missed encounters, the Train of Memo Train will once again travel to Auschwitz in tour stops, animated by the "Captains of Memory". They will take the baton of memory received from the survivors and make it cross, step by step, borders and territories throughout Europe. An ideal torch to keep memory alive and illuminate the present, giving it meaning and fullness, which will arrive, after having left Trento on 27 January 2021, at the gates of Auschwitz exactly one year later, on 27 January 2022.

A relay race made up of meetings, journeys, testimonies, delegations, enthusiasm, commitment and future. A future illuminated by the torch of memory, by the knowing one's own past to build in the present solid foundations of a better future.

During the journey, through the meetings, testimonies, workshops and round tables organised, the "Charter of Remembrance for Active Citizenship" will be drawn up, which will be presented as the result of the whole year's journey during the 2022 Remembrance Day in Trento and will contain the basis for future projects.

The journey of the Captains of Memory can be followed on the Living Memory platform and will be the common thread linking all the projects that will be proposed after 27 January 2021.

The meetings, the theatrical performance, the virtual visits with the guides of the city of Krakow and of the Auschwitz Museum will take place in a TV set realised at the Cuminetti Theatre in Trento and will be broadcasted in live streaming for schools, and available on the social platforms of the Trentino Terra del Fuoco Association for the general public.

The official exhibition of the Auschwitz museum will be travelling in different territories of Trentino.

Watch the presentation video

PROGRAMME:

19 January, at 18.30. Opening of the Festival of Remembrance "Living Memory" and opening of the official exhibition "German Nazi Death Camp Konzentrationslager Auschwitz", made available by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. In addition to the institutional representatives, Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech, director of the publishing house of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, will take part in the event.

20 January, at 10. Lecture-meeting with a virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with camp guide Michele Andreolla. (The meeting is designed for middle schools and the first two years of high schools).

21 January, at  10. Theatrical performance "L'istruttoria" ("The investigation") by Peter Weiss, with Marco Alotto, with live music by DJ Gips and Nicola Segatta. Followed by a dialogue with the protagonists. (The play will be staged at the Cuminetti Theatre, but can only be followed online; it is designed for secondary schools).

22 January, at  10. Encounter-testimony with Lidia Maksymowicz, survivor of imprisonment in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. (The meeting is designed for middle schools and high schools).

23 January, at  17. Screening of the film showing:"A journey" by Giacomo Gabrielli. Followed by a dialogue with the film director. (The meeting is open to all citizens).

24 January, at  18. Theatrical performance "L'istruttoria" ("The investigation") by Peter Weiss, with Marco Alotto, with live music by DJ Gips and Nicola Segatta. Followed by a dialogue with the protagonists. (The show is open to all citizens).

25 January, at  10. Lecture-meeting with a virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with camp guide Diego Audero. (The meeting is designed for high schools).

25 January, at  12. Theatrical lesson "Laughing in the Lager", by  Renato Forte, Robin Editions (curated by Associazione nazionale Treno della Memoria).

25 January, at  20.30. Lecture-meeting with a virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with camp guide Diego Audero. (The meeting is open to all citizens).

26 January, at  10. Encounter-testimony with Oleg Mandic, survivor of imprisonment in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. (The meeting is designed for middle schools and high schools).

26 January, at  20.30. Encounter-testimony with Oleg Mandic, survivor of imprisonment in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. (The meeting is open to all citizens).

27 January, at 11. Theatrical presentation of "La Rosa Bianca", by the Terra del Fuoco Mediterranea association. Followed by a debate on "The future of memory - a look at today".

27 January, at 16. Official celebrationswith the authorities, video messages from survivors, presentation and launch of the second part of the project with the departure of the "Captains of Memory".