2024-09-02 14:02:01
Pavlína Šulcová will become the director of the contribution organization Památník ticha, announced on Thursday the Minister of Culture Martin Baxa from ODS. He appoints her to the position for a six-year term in the second half of September. The new boss will replace the current authorized director and author of the project idea, Pavel Štingl.
Štingl told Czech Television that he does not intend to cooperate with his successor. The monument of silence at the Praha-Bubny railway station commemorates the Jews of Prague who were deported to concentration camps during the Second World War.
The official reason for announcing the tender process was the unsatisfactory development of works on the reconstruction of the railway station. However, around seven hundred people, including former prime minister Petr Pithart, artist Jaroslav Róna, filmmaker Václav Marhoul, regional rabbi Karol Sidon and the chairman of the Jewish community František Bányai signed a letter in support of Štingl. Its creation was initiated by Leoš Válka from the Dox Contemporary Art Center in Prague. The signatories called on the minister to “cancel the announced tender and continue to discuss the future of the Monument of Silence” with the authors of the idea.
“We wasted a year and a half having to argue with different people about how we thought about it, and those people weren’t comfortable with it either. I think it won’t be comfortable with the new director, who I would really he liked to cooperate, but definitely not in this case,” Štingl said in the program Události v kultura.
Pavlína Šulcová managed and organized some events in the field of cultural diplomacy. For example, she worked at the Czech Center Tel Aviv, of which three years as deputy director, in 2018 she was entrusted with management. In addition, he is engaged in popularization and educational projects, the aim of which is to bring the Jewish identity closer to the next generations and the wider public.
She considers the appointment to the position a challenge and a logical outcome of her activities, she said. “I consider the monument of silence to be an important and meaningful project. I have great respect for the founder, Pavel Štingl, and I would like to build on his efforts so far. I want to give the project new energy and find an opportunity for mutual cooperation,” she added.
The monument of silence was invented by documentarian Pavel Štingl. | Photo: Jiří Koťátko
He marks the start of the reconstruction and implementation of the building as a priority. At the same time, she would like to focus on the current educational program, which is supposed to break down stereotypes and clichés.
“The establishment of the Silence Monument is a key project of the Ministry of Culture and is also part of the government’s program statement,” emphasizes Minister of Culture Martin Baxa from ODS.
His office for the years 2022 to 2025 negotiated 300 million crowns for the monument. “Reconstruction, however, has not actually started. It is therefore extremely necessary for it to start as soon as possible. In no way and in no way do I question the work and efforts of the current director, Pavel Štingl, to bring the topic of the Shoah into the public space. However, it is now necessary to act without delay in order to fulfill the promise given witnesses, their descendants and the public,” adds Baxa.
The chairman of the selection committee and senior director of the cultural heritage section of the Ministry of Culture, Vlastislav Ouroda, promises to “stabilize the standard management of the state contribution organization and, on the other hand, the potential of cooperation with the latest trends in the issue of commemorating tragic parts of European history.”
The non-profit society Památník ticha started operating approximately 12 years ago in the building of the former Bubny railway station in Prague, primarily with an emphasis on commemorating Jewish transports. The first transport of Prague Jews from Bubny railway station to Lodz left on October 16, 1941, with a thousand Jewish men, women and children on board. 24 people survived. A total of 50,000 residents were deported. In 1945, the Germans from Prague left here during the evacuation.
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