Museum for School – School for Museum is the name of the seminars organized by the Commission for Work with the Public, specifically by colleagues from the Regional Museum in Mělník and the Memorial of Silence, where this meeting took place this time. I must admit that I have not been to the Memorial before, so I was very surprised by its authentic space. We found ourselves in the former station hall of Prague – Bubny. The station space was preserved with benches and a ticket window. Black and white photographs hung on the walls, referring to the events that took place here during World War II, when over fifty thousand Czech Jews destined for death passed through the station.
The seminars discuss practical topics that are based on the work of educational staff of museums and galleries. In the past, for example, we dealt with legal issues, how to introduce biology to students in the city center, how to work with feedback. At the seminars, I especially appreciate the practical exercises, the opportunity to look at different approaches and mutual sharing of experiences.
The topic of this meeting was work with students with specific needs and the use of drama education in the educational program. At the beginning of the meeting, we first learned interesting information about the approach of the Central Bohemian Region to the cultural institutions of which it is the founder. It is nice to see and hear how cooperation works in other regions, in which areas it is possible to build on and possibly be inspired by. This was followed by a lecture by Barbora Kulihová, head of the museum pedagogy group of the Army Museum in Vítkov. Bára has been working with students and visitors with special needs for a long time. Her lecture was well structured and stimulating for the rest of us thanks to personal experiences and practical examples. We left the practical questions to Bára's workshop. She introduced us to the educational program that takes place in the Army Museum for children from kindergartens, the first grade of elementary school, but is also adapted for children with medical disabilities. We were able to try the worksheets and tools that Bára and her colleagues use during the program. And sometimes we laughed a lot. Especially when I couldn't put on my military helmet, which I wore backwards.
As part of her workshop, our colleague Ivana Vachková from the Memorial of Silence moved to one of the adjacent rooms of the Memorial, which previously served as an office. She prepared a program called Girls from Room 28. First individually and then in pairs, we processed the stories of girls who passed through one of the rooms of the Terezín ghetto. Almost all of them wrote diaries and some of them have been preserved. So we worked with real stories of girls between the ages of 11 and 15 who found themselves in a place they shouldn't have been under normal circumstances. Of the sixty female residents who passed through room No. 28 over the course of two years, four lived to see the end of the war. The workshop ended with a movement activity and a subsequent discussion. The topic was very challenging and, in addition to new information, it also brought us a strong emotional experience.
The Memorial of Silence greeted us and said goodbye with an object called the Gate of No Return, created by the artist Aleš Veselý. Even though the entire station was surrounded by the construction activity of ongoing reconstruction, the Gate still makes a strong impression. I highly recommend visiting The Memorial of Silence!
Pavlína Pitrová, September 27, 2024
