22 December 2025

Hanukkah is here, Christmas is approaching....I'm struggling to find words this year to send out greetings and wishes... Since February 2022 and 7 October 2023, our world has changed in ways I could never have imagined. The foundations of our society have been shaken, our world has been turned upside down. The former “Never Again” has become “Never Again is Now,” an appeal that is shattered by cruel reality and threatens to fade away.

With insights into the new brochure, which will be ready just in time for the New Year, I like to wish our members and friends from the depth of my heart a peaceful holiday season and a peaceful and Happy New Year. 

Hannelore Brenner, head and project-manager of Room 28  

Aufgenommen ins Künstlerprogramm des Zentralrats der Juden

Unser Team: Der Schauspieler und Sänger Andreas Jocksch, die Sängerin und Illustratorin des Kinderbuches Maria Thomaschke, die Konzertpianistin Katarzyna Wasiak. Im Hintergrund: der Opernregisseur Mstislav Pentkovsky und die Autorin des Kinderbuches. Wir erzählen das Abenteuer von Aninka und Pepíček, die gemeinsam mit Spatz, Hund, Katze und den Kindern ihrer Stadt den bösen Leierkastenmann besiegen. Es ist eine Geschichte von der Kraft der Freundschaft und Solidarität.

The brochure for this year's project at the J-Arteck summer camp is now available. Brundibár – Melody of Hope and Resistance  - this was the topic of the 20th international Creative summer camp, which came to a close on August 18 with a spectacular performance based on the children's opera Brundibár. The idea to  focus on Brundibár was inspired by the Ukrainian and Hebrew edition of the Brundibár children's book and by our Brundibár project in the spirit of solidarity. The book formed a bridge between the Israeli and Ukrainian participants, and all who took part got a book from us. You can download the brochure.

Our Brundibár gift project was expanded on October 13, 2025, with a new initiative. We are sending 2-kilo parcels each containing six books of the Hebrew edition of the Brundibár children's book, six flyers about the project (in English), and six postcards with drawings made by "The Girls of Room 28" in the Theresienstadt ghetto to friends in Israel. Parcels already were sent to Handa Drori, one of the “Girls of Room 28,” for children in her kibbutz and to other friends in Israel, also to Givat Chaim Ihud.  

Anyone who would like to participate in the campaign is welcome to do so. We ask for the shipping costs, a minimum of 25€  or 65€ express. You are welcome to provide addresses to which we send a parcel.

Donations can be transferred directly to our account with the reference: Brundibár package. The campaign is also part of the project posted on Betterplace.  Look under "What is needed" on: www.betterplace.org/de/manage/projects/161860-ein-vermaechtnis-aus-theresienstadt/needs 

It is our core task and project to maintain the exhibition and to embed the Room 28 project of remembrance and education in the heart of our society. We are therefore now focusing on modernizing the exhibition and exploring a valuable audio and film archive. You are welcome to support our project by making a donation, either directly onto our Room 28 account or via Betterplace. If you have other ideas, let us know please.

Brundibár - the opera by Hans Kása and Adolf Hoffmeister, and a children's book are at the beginning of our project. Because the story of Aninka and Pepíček and the organ grinder Brundibár is a story about the power of friendship and solidarity. This is the basic idea that led to the Ukrainian and Hebrew edition of the Brundibár children's book by Hannelore Brenner (text) and Maria Thomaschke (pictures). The Ukrainian and Hebrew edition is published by Edition Room 28 in collaboration with our organization and supported  by our  Foreign Office. The project is under the patronage of Vladimir Jurowski, General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. 

This book The Girls of Room 28 is based on authentic documents and testimonies and is recommended for anyone who wants to find out what it was like when the opera Brundibár was performed in the Theresienstadt ghetto. But Brundibár is of course only a part, albeit an important one, of this book that tells the story of a group of Jewish girls whose paths crossed in Room 28 in the Theresienstadt ghetto until they seperated again. - Decades after the war the survivors reunited. They decided to tell their story. Hannelore Brenner became their chosen author. - A book against Anti-semitism and a plea for culture, art and human values.

 www.edition-room28.de/maedchen-von-zimmer-28