Budapest

BUDAPEST, 6. November 2012

Kulturtipp Budapest: ein Requiem gegen Mord und Hass

Musikgenuss mit einem ernsten Hintergrund erwartet den Besucher beim Besuch des Ausschwitz Requiems. Am 6. November, nur wenige Tage vor dem Jahrestag der Reichsprogromnacht 1938, lädt der Budapester Palast der Künste zu einem Requiem für die Opfer der Shoa ein. Das Requiem, ein Werk des niederländischen Roma Komponisten Roger „Moreno” Rathgeb, ist allen Opfern des Holocausts gewidmet und soll zugleich ein Zeichen gegen den zunehmenden Hass auf Sinti und Roma im heutigen Europa setzten. In vier Abschnitten erleben die Zuhörer eine musikalische Darstellung der Gefühle der Opfer, von Verzweiflung, Angst, Hass und Demütigung über kurzfristige, kleine Freuden bis hin zum tiefsitzenden Wunsch, Rache an den Tätern zu nehmen. Je nachdem singen Solisten oder der Chor, spielen tragende Instrumente, wie Holzbläser und Orgel bzw. leichte Instrumente, wie Klarinette, Flöte oder Fagott. Unterbrochen werden die Abschnitte von musikalischen Gebeten für die Opfer. Das Projekt steht unter der Schirmherrschaft des Generalsekretärs der Europarates, Thorbjörn Jagland.
E.G.

Eintrittskarten zwischen 2900 HUF (12€) und 20000 HUF (71€). Wer einen gültigen Studentenausweis vorlegen kann, kann sich auch für 1000 HUF (4€) einen Stehplatz sichern.

6. November 2012 19h30
Palast der Künste
Béla Bártok National Concert Hall
Komor Marcell utca 1
1095 Budapest IX.

Requiem for Auschwitz

6 November 2012, 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm
Bartók Béla National Concert Hall

Roger “Moreno” Rathgeb: Requiem for Auschwitz

Conductor: Riccardo M. Sahiti
Director: Márton Gulyás

“The threat of deportation and the gas chambers is encoded in every expression of intolerance towards the Roma and in every anti-Semitic remark. Education and knowledge of history, going hand in hand with humanity and a certain predisposition to sympathetic fellow-feeling, will hopefully enable us to recognize the seeds of old dangers renewed and to shackle the demons of hatred and evil before they can gain possession of us once more.” (Václav Havel, 1999)
Requiem for Auschwitz, the work of the Dutch-Sinto-Roma composer Roger “Moreno” Rathgeb, commemorates the victims of the Holocaust while drawing particular attention to a neglected aspect of the Nazi genocide: the extermination of half a million Roma.
At the initiative of the Netherlands-based Alfa Foundation / International Gipsy Festival in Tilburg, Requiem for Auschwitz will be performed in Budapest, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Warsaw and Bucharest. In tandem with the concert, the Romedia Foundation – organizer of the Budapest event – also plans an exhibition and a film festival, as well as an educational programme and a heavily publicized conference in cooperation with the Krétakör Foundation. The Requiem concerts and other programmes are supported – among others – by the European Commission and the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF).

Presented by: Romédia Alapítvány

Supporters: AEGON

Prices: 2900, 3900, 4900, 5900, 20000 Ft

Requiem for Auschwitz

DATE	October 26 - November 23, 2012
LOCATION	Budapest, Hungary
WEB	http://requiemforauschwitz.eu

For twenty years, Romedia Foundation’s mission has been to challenge the discrimination faced by the Roma people in Hungary and across Europe.

As a general matter, public opinion does not recognize the Roma and Sinti as victims of the Holocaust. Roma are thus deprived of the protection that historic memory would give them. Romedia Foundation believes that the moral consequences of the Nazi genocide have to be extended to the Roma and Sinti: only by acknowledging the past, we can understand how hatred of the present represents a deeper threat.

This is why Romedia is implementing the Requiem for Auschwitz, which consists of a program series: a concert, a film festival, an art exhibition and a digital online exhibition.

1. Concert: November 6, 2012 at 7.30 PM. at the Palace of Arts (MÜPA)

The Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra from Frankfurt am Main, conducted by Riccardo M Sahiti, along with a 60 members choir and four outstanding Hungarian soloists, will perform the Requiem, composed by Dutch Sinti musician Roger Moreno Rathgeb.

The audience can expect a cathartic experience, both musically and visually!

TICKETS available at this link: http://mupa.hu/en/program/requiem-for-auschwitz-2012-11-06_19-30-bbnh, clicking on the “Ticketing” button.

2. The Requiem Film Festival: October 26-28, 2012 at the Urania National Film Theater

Carefully selected documentaries presenting the genocides of the 20th century and raising difficult questions about historical memory, reconciliation, and life after genocide. Admission is free.

3. Art exhibition: November 15- 23, 2012 at the French Institute

The first public showing in Hungary of the works of the German artist Otto Pankok, blacklisted by the Nazis, and of the Austrian Holocaust survivor Ceija Stojka. Admission is free.

4. Digital exhibition “Forgotten genocide”: http://www.romasinti.eu

A unique online archive, created by the Dutch National Committee, explaining who Roma and Sinti are, where do they live now and where did they live in the past, what happened to them during the Second World War, and how have they been coping with the genocide committed against them since the War.

We are inviting everybody who believes in our cause and is committed to render historical justice to the Roma and Sinti victims of the Nazi genocide to come and participate at the events, buying tickets for the concert on the 6th of November.

Ticket prices range from 2,900 to 20,000 HUF, the latter one being the price of the special supporter tickets. Those who purchase a supporter ticket, contribute to the realization of the whole Requiem for Auschwitz project.

We continuously release videos of testimonies, who have witnessed what happened to the Roma and Sinti after deportation and in the concentration camps.

You can view some of our videos on the below links:

Erzsébet Brodt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdf6Pwo1-HQ
Éva Fahidi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=183Z5N88xgA

The project’s official site: http://requiemforauschwitz.eu
Hungarian website: http://www.romediafoundation.org/auschwitz-rekviem.html

For continuous fresh updates on the programs, and other activities and campaigns of Romedia Foundation, follow us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RequiemforAuschwitz/122267841242982
http://www.facebook.com/romediafoundation/

Requiem for Auschwitz Comes to Hungary

September 5, 2012

Budapest’s Romedia Foundation is participating in a European initiative to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.

“Requiem for Auschwitz: a monument in music, film, images and words. Requiem for Auschwitz will be a shared moment for representatives of the Jewish, Roma, Sinti and other victim groups in the light of recent developments in Europe. It is a living proof of the power of culture against discrimination and exclusion,” the organisers of the initiative say on their website.

The event is based on the composition Requiem for Auschwitz (2009) by the self-educated Dutch Sinto musician Roger 'Moreno' Rahtgeb. It will be performed by the Roma- und Sinti Philharmoniker from Frankfurt am Main, conducted by Roma conductor Riccardo M Sahiti. Performances are accompanied by special exhibitions, debates, a conference and a film and documentary program.

The piece will be performed in Budapest on November 6.

In the run-up to the concert, the Uránia National Film Theatre will host a documentary film festival that focuses on the Holocaust as well as genocides in othe places such as Cambodia and Rwanda. All of the screenings, to take place on October 26-28, will be free of charge.

Budapest’s French Institute will host an exhibition of work by the German expressionist artist Otto Pankok, whose depictions of Roma and Sinti families were banned by the Nazis, and the Roma artist Ceija Stojka, who is a Holocaust survivor, on November 15-22.

The Alfa Foundation of the Netherlands will present a digital exhibition that deals with the persecution of Roma and Sinti during the Nazi period.

The Romedia Foundation, which researches the Pharrajimos, the attempt by Nazi Germany and its allies to destroy the Romani people of Europe during WWII, has worked for more than twenty years to dispel stereotypes and prejudices.

Requiem for Auschwitz

Romedia Foundation is a Budapest-based non-governmental organization that uses the tools of film, international multimedia campaigns and cultural events to foster the development of a positive

Roma identity, fight anti-Roma bias, and influence policy making about Roma-related issues. We have behind our back twenty years of experience in organizing cultural events.

The Requiem forAuschwitzis a spectacular European initiative, with an outstanding social relevance both on the European and the Hungarian level. Majority of the population barely knows anything about the Nazi genocide committed against the Roma. Ignorance regarding the XXth century’s darkest historical episode makes possible and strenghtens discrimination and persecution against Roma in today’sEurope.

Mistrust, biased thinking and racism against Roma are part of current Hungarian reality. Meanwhile, the deportation and extermination of Roma during the Second World War is a taboo, known by few and talked about by even less. Since our Foundation is one of the few Hungarian researchers of the Pharraimos, working for twenty years to question and change the deeply rooted stereotypes against the Roma, we decided to bring the Requiem for Auschwitz event-series toHungary.

In the framework of the Requiem for Auschwitz European program series the audience inHungarywill be able to attend a classical music concert, a documentary film festival, an art exhibition and a digital exhibition.

THE CONCERT

The Requiem, composed by Dutch Sinti composer Roger Moreno Rathgeb, will be performed by the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra in five European cities. Riccardo M. Sahiti will conduct the concert.

Roma musician Sahiti studied Conducting/Music Teaching under Prof. Stanko Sepic at the Faculty of Musical Arts inBelgrade, where he graduated in 1990. He extended his studies by adding Opera and Symphonic Conducting at the Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Yuri Ivanovic Simonov and at theAcademy of Musicand Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main under Prof. Jiri Starek. He attended master classes by Jorma Panula and Peter Eötvös. As a conductor he gained experience at the Belgrade Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Savarija Szombathely Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. He also fronted orchestras such as the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice. Since 2002 Riccardo M Sahiti has been artistic director and conductor of the Roma und Sinti Philharmoniker.

The Hungarian participants of the Requiem Concert will be the St. Ephraim Choir, lead by Tamás Bubnó, and four soloists.

The concert will be organized on the November 6, 2012, at 7.30 p.m. at the Palace of Arts (MüPa).