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Let's all sing now, we are stronger than anything – with these lines, back in 1942, children concluded the premiere of Brundibár, an opera for children composed for a Jewish orphanage in Prague by the Czech Jew Hans Krása to a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister. Brundibár was performed again in 1944 by children from the Terezín concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. The opera was performed 55 times in the camp, and almost all participants were deported to Auschwitz. Most ended their lives in the gas chambers. The importance of this fairy-tale opera is that it speaks out against every form of tyranny and genocide through the story of children who experienced unimaginable crimes. It also represents the power of music and art that rise above difficult life situations. The opera's message is timeless and extremely important for civilization, especially since Branko Lustig, the founder of the Zagreb Jewish Festival and initiator of the establishment of the Center for Promoting Tolerance, also shared the fate of these children.
The opera Brundibár is directed by Krešimir Dolenčić i Hrvoje Korbar, the musical background was recorded by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and the girls' choir acts and sings. "Stars" under the guidance Zdravko Šljivac te Bozidar Pericic i Zoran Pribicevic.
*list of participants in the performance: Girls' Choir Ensemble Zvjezdice (37 girls), Božidar Peričić (soloist), Zoran Pribičević (actor), Gita Peričić (ballerina), Dijana Rogulja Deltin (choir conductor), Darko Fischer (testimony)
The Croatian premiere took place on 27 January 2018, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in front of the First Croatian Oil Factory in Zagreb, organized by the Center for Promoting Tolerance and Preservation of Holocaust Remembrance. So far, the opera has been performed 15 times for more than four thousand young people, with great response and enthusiasm from the audience.
Darko Fischer is a retired professor of electrical engineering, born in Osijek in 1938 to a Jewish family, who spent the war years hiding in various locations in Bosnia and Hungary due to Ustasha persecution. His father Alfred, an Osijek lawyer, was killed in Budapest in early 1945, and Darko managed to return to Osijek with his mother and sister after the liberation. As a doctor of computer science, he taught at several Osijek faculties, and shares his experiences and memories with young people.
Performances in Split are co-financed by City of Zagreb, Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Split, Split-Dalmatia County, Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and JANAF dd
Festival of tolerance was launched in 2000 as the Jewish Film Festival, with the support and volunteer work of two-time Oscar winner Branko Lustig. The basic premise of the Festival is to contribute to the protection of human rights through educational, artistic and cultural content and, through its completely free programs for visitors, to speak about the importance of preserving the memory of the Holocaust, but also about socially relevant topics for the purpose of developing European democratic achievements.
Caring for young people as the most important segment in the development of a democratic society, especially in today's times when we are witnessing an increase in violence among young people, discrimination and social injustices, among children and towards individuals of other nationalities, religions or races, has encouraged us since 2009 to continuously develop educational programs for young people, in which over 60.000 students from Croatia and beyond have participated so far. All educational programs of the Festival are united under the name Dialogue which is intended for teachers and students to learn about tolerance. The platform offers free films, didactic materials and archival material from previous Festival programs, along with virtual and live lectures, panels and live discussions.
Center for Promoting Tolerance and Preservation of Holocaust Remembrance was founded in 2017 at the initiative of two-time Oscar winner and Holocaust survivor Branko Lustig and Nataša Popović, founders of the Tolerance Festival – JFF Zagreb. As a non-profit cultural institution founded and managed by the City of Zagreb and the citizens' association Contemporary Jewish Film Festival Zagreb, the Center builds a platform for the development of a more tolerant and humane social environment. Using art as a strong social tool to contribute to cultural inclusion and social cohesion, the Center works on projects to combat intolerance, prejudice, discrimination, oppression and violence, and to develop a more tolerant society.
The Center carries out its mission through performance and production programs (the children's opera Brundibár, Stolpersteine - Stumbling Stones, exhibitions and POP UP events), educational and interdisciplinary programs (seminars "Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Suffering - The Past in the Present", cycles of public forums) and preparatory activities for the establishment of a museum of tolerance in the space of the former First Croatian Oil Factory in Zagreb, currently an abandoned cultural property.
