The Meeting Brno festival, which seeks dialogue between peoples and religions, will receive a human rights award from the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft (SDL) at the Sudeten German Days in the Bavarian city Regensburg in June, the festival spokeswoman Veronika Smyslova said in a press release yesterday.
“Meeting Brno is an impressive example of peacemakers and protagonists of understanding between nations through truth,” said SDL spokesman Bernd Posselt. “At a time when nationalism, war and expulsion are on the rise again, the organisers of Meeting Brno are sending a strong signal for a Europe of peace and human rights.”
For ten years, the Meeting Brno festival has been creating a platform for dialogue about the common history of the Czech Republic and Germany, especially in the context of post-war events. It follows the Year of Reconciliation 2015, when Brno City Council adopted the Declaration of Reconciliation and expressed regret over the expulsion of the German-speaking inhabitants of Brno in 1945.
The 10th edition of the Meeting Brno festival will take place from 29 May to 8 June, with the main theme of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
The festival program will include ten days of discussions, concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, workshops, and guided walks. About 150 people from the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft will take part.
The main guests include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, diplomat Petr Kolář, Ukrainian scholar Lenka Víchová, and Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, who became campaigners for peace after both losing their daughters on different sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
