When the world around us collapses – through war, fear and the rapid disappearance of certainty – the word home becomes more urgent than ever before. Not as an address, but as a question: Where is our home when the world falls apart? We will listen to people who, in moments of trial, did not remain standing aside.
The past sometimes seems distant – until we encounter it in the present. We often associate the legacy of Nicholas Winton with history, yet today we see how deeply it also belongs to the present: alongside his son we will hear people who, during the war in Ukraine, helped bring the most vulnerable to safety. And then Russians will speak whose courage to say things openly has closed the doors of their homes.
In the first part, Nick Winton, the son of Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of Czechoslovak children from the Holocaust, will speak. Together with him will come Konstantin Gudauskas, known as the “Angel of Bucha”, who during the war helped rescue more than 200 women and children – as well as Elena Mazzola, who brought children with disabilities from Kharkiv to safety. Both acted in places that have become symbols of how far violence can go – and how crucial it is when someone decides to act.
The second block will lead us to memory, truth and to what fear and repressive power do to individuals and to society. Boris Belenkin from the organisation Memorial will speak; he now lives outside Russia and cannot return to his homeland. For him, the question of home is therefore not only a topic for reflection, but a painful personal experience. This will be complemented by the perspective of Markéta Pekarová Adamová, with whom he found a temporary home after leaving Russia.
The evening will be moderated by David Macek.
The event will be simultaneously interpreted from English, Ukrainian and Russian into Czech.
The general partner of the event is the company Hodinářství Bechyně.
