Ester - Youth remembers

Description

+++ Pogledajte ispod za srpsku verziju +++ ENGLISH: Ester is a collection of novels and a teaching material, its most important feature being a series of dramatized and illustrated stories about the Jewish victims killed in the Sajmište Concentration Camp (Judenlager Semlin) near Belgrade in the beginning of 1942. The stories focus on young victims and their families, their pre-war lives, and their lives under the German occupation and during the Holocaust. The stories are based on true historical events and the people who experienced them. In the course of creating this program, experts from Serbia, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries were consulted, while a team consisting of expert historians, teachers, specialists on Jewish culture and tradition, Holocaust survivors, as well as a group of illustrators from Serbia and the Netherlands who were working together on its implementation. Ester consists of four novels: – The Archivists and the Forgotten Boxes (available in Serbian and English) – A Story About the Red Race Car (available in Serbian and English) – The Running Shoes (available in Serbian) – The Family Photo (available in Serbian) Ester is available in Serbian and English at the website www.ester.rs Dramatization of History The events depicted in the Ester novels are true, documented events corroborated by relevant historical sources, testimonies of survivors, witnesses, and other documentation. While creating the novels, one of the important goals was to find the correct balance between a certain degree of necessary liberty between the dramatization and the historical facts. Ester graphic novels were created as a reconstruction and dramatization of history based on available fragments of personal stories, keeping in mind a certain target and age group. Taking this approach, while keeping historical events and facts as central in the stories, we placed the main focus on the human aspects, feelings, and thoughts of the main characters, with the aim of engaging students on a different level by creating a purposeful tool for teaching and learning about the Holocaust. Particular segments of the stories were created specifically to better present the Jewish culture and traditions and the pre-war Jewish life in Serbia. In some cases we used experiences of several different individuals and families by blending them into one single story. For instance, it might have been another father who, just a few days before he was shot, gave his cap to his son during his son’s last visit to the Topovske Šupe Concentration Camp. But it is a matter of historical fact that there really was a father who did it. In order to present specific aspects or subjects, such as collaboration, resistance, helpers, refugees, looting of Jewish property, etc., some otherwise historically accurate details are implanted into the stories, usually by placing some of the main characters at a particular location and time. For instance, in one of the novels, one of the main characters is present during the Volksdeutsche march through central Belgrade in September 1941. We cannot know if this boy was there that day, but – he might have been. On the other hand, the event itself is a well-documented historical fact, and it was important to present it to the students. Having in mind the educational purpose of the novels, we believe that such adaptations were justified. It is important to emphasize that all interventions and dramatizations were made in accordance with historical sources and under the supervision of expert historians in order not to jeopardize the crucial and important historical facts. SRPSKI: Ester je nastavni materijal čiji najvažniji deo predstavlja kolekcija dramatizovanih priča u formi grafičkih novela o životima i stradanju naših sugrađana koji su ubijeni u Jevrejskom logoru Zemun (Judenlager Semlin) na Sajmištu kod Beograda početkom 1942. godine. Prateći priče iz perspektive dece, mi upoznajemo njihove porodice, život pre rata, i stradanja za vreme okupacije i tokom Holokausta. Bazirane na stvarnim istorijskim događajima i ličnostima, priče se oslanjaju se na arhivsku dokumentaciju, fotografije, svedočanstva i drugu istorijsku građu. Nastavni materijal je namenjen učenicima viših razreda osnovnih, i učenicima srednjih škola. Pod rukovodstvom stručnog tima u kojem su učestvovali domaći i strani stručnjaci, kreirane su, dramatizovane i ilustrovane priče, imajući na umu dva osnovna cilja: držati se istorijskih činjenica, i stvoriti kvalitetan nastavni materijal. Dramatizacija istorije Događaji predstavljeni u grafičkim novelama Ester su istiniti, potkrepljeni relevatnom istorijskom građom i svedočanstvima – ali, naravno, dramatizovani i prilagođeni ciljnoj grupi i edukativnoj nameni. U slučaju priča u zbirci Ester, dramtizacije je rađena sa specifičnim pedagoškim ciljem da se u priče unesu elementi koji će otvoriti mogućnost učenja o određenim karakterističnim temama kao što su npr. otpor, kolaboracija, izbeglice, pljačka jevrejske imovine, jevrejska kultura i običaji, itd. Ponekad priča glavne junake vodi na mesta i u vreme kada se važni istorijski događaji odvijaju da bismo mogli da ih opišemo – mada u stvarnosti oni možda nisu lično bili prisutni. Takođe, istinita iskustva različitih familija su u nekim slučajevima objedinjena u jednu priču. Kao na primer u noveli Crveni automobil, gde je opisano kako je otac sinu dao svoju kapu prilikom njihovog rastanka u logoru Topovske šupe. U stvarnosti, to su bili jedan drugi otac i sin, ali je istorijska činjenica da se to zaista dogodilo. Uostalom, kao mnoštvo drugih dramatičnih, ljudskih i emotivnih momenata koji su se zaista odigrali, mi smo smatrali da ih je vredno zapisati, sačuvati od zaborava i predstaviti, i to upravo u formi edukacije o Holokaustu. Ipak je važno napomenuti da su sve takve intervencije rađene uz strogo poštovanje istorijskih činjenica i uz konsultacije sa stručnim timom da se ni slučajno ne bi doveli u pitanje akuratno predstavljanje važnih istorijskih događaja. Grafičke novele Ester su bazirane na onoliko istorijskih detalja i podataka o glavnim likovima priča koliko smo mogli da pronađemo i utvrdimo, i ne predstavljaju pokušaj da ispričaju njihove lične priče, nego su zbirka različitih iskustava i sudbina sakupljenih u format koji treba da posluži svrsi učenja o Holokaustu. Na ovaj način pokušali smo da ponudimo materijal koji će učenike inspirisati na jedan drugi, emotivno angažovaniji način, otvarajući mogućnost za kreativni i istraživački rad. Na izvestan način, inspiraciju nam je pružio čitav niz dela različitih umetničkih formi koji ovu temu obrađuju. Između ostalih, David Albahari ovako opisuje svoj roman Gec i Majer: “Roman Gec i Majer je zasnovan na istorijskim činjenicama iz brojnih izvora ali je ipak priča koja poštuje činjenice u onoj meri u kojoj to njoj odgovara, jer opisujući stradanje jedne porodice u Srbiji, opisao sam na simboličan način sudbinu cele jevrejske zajednice”.

Keywords

Holocaust

Jews

Staro Sajmište

Concentration Camps

Belgrade

Beograd

Srbija

Graphic Novels

Grafičke novele

Nemački logori

World War II

Drugi svetski rat

Jevreji

Roma

Persecution

Nazism

Nazi Occupation