The "Yellow Stars" festival, dedicated to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is celebrated on January 27, brings several events organized in Budva, Cetinje and Podgorica by a Belarusian artist Ana Lenkova.
The program opens with the photo exhibition "Fragments of Memory" by a Belarusian photographer Dmitry Shemetkov which has been available since yesterday at the Jewish Cultural Center in Budva and will last until February 10. Two classical music concerts dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust will follow, on January 29 at the Royal Theater "Zetski dom" in Cetinje at 20 p.m., and on January 30 in the large hall of the Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović" in Podgorica, also at 20 p.m. Admission is free.
Artist Ana Lenkova also points out that she launched the project inspired by her ancestor and her example...
“The project and the concert were born in a way from my family story. My great-grandmother Irina Masyukevich is a Righteous Among the Nations (an honorary term used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jewish people who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from the Nazis)... During World War II, she saved a Jewish family, and a memorial plaque with her name is located in the Alley of the Righteous Among the Nations in Bobruisk, while her initials are engraved on the Wall of Honor at Yad Vashem...", Lenkova proudly emphasizes and says:
"People should never allow such a tragedy to happen again! I think that's why Remembrance Day is so important for all people around the world."
The "Yellow Stars" project also has a social background, Lenkova adds, recalling that she organized and launched the story in Minsk in January 2018, marking Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity. The project was implemented in Belarus for the next four years in the Great Hall of the Belarusian State Philharmonic in Minsk.
Lenkova emphasizes that the project is important not only for the Jewish community, but also for society as a whole.
"In my opinion, it is necessary to fill in the gaps, to give new generations the opportunity to learn history and to remember, to continue to remember what happened, so that every person considers himself part of something greater, and not part of some exclusive race. Just as the Righteous Among the Nations existed in Belarus, they also existed in Montenegro, Serbia and beyond, and this is an important thread that connects all countries where people of great strength and grace lived. The intercultural aspect is fundamental, interaction is critical. This is a chance for all participants to connect through music, but also an opportunity to present their culture, tell a story, discuss and initiate dialogue. The greatest and most important value of all this for us is to unite people through music, to share, cooperate and create the 'global village' that we all need! Unity is strength. Therefore, I continue to work on reviving the 'Yellow Stars' project, so that it can find its second home," Lenkova stated.
The concert, project and festival was named "Yellow Stars" after the work Isaac Schwartz, which is inspired by and dedicated to Swedish diplomacy Raoul Wallenberg who saved the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews from German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during the Holocaust, adds Lenkova.
"He was a prisoner of the Red Army during the siege of Budapest, and later died in a KGB prison in Moscow. Unfortunately, this story is not well known to the Montenegrin public, so it is worth paying more attention to it and talking about it, because it can help in conceptualizing the historical puzzle and allow people to learn something new," Lenkova points out.
The repertoire includes works by composers such as: Moisei Weinberg, Lera Auerbach, Mikhail Gnesin, Alexei Kurbatov, Dmitri Shostakovich, Maurice Ravel, Ernest Bloch i Samuel Barber.
The concerts will feature 23 talented musicians from Belarus, England, Montenegro and other countries, as follows: Roman Mintz, Maria Trepashko, Evgeny Shimanovich, Alexey Kurbatov, Alexandra Ivanova, Vitaly Stakievich, Artem Shishkov, Mikhail Radunsky, Alexey Kiselyov, Nadezhda Kucher, Olga Zapolskaya, Tatyana Levitskaya, Dmitry Yukhnevich, Marina Zelenina, Nikita Kravets, Polina Protasovskaya, Kristina Vavilonskaya, Nadezhda Artamonova, Sergey Suvorov, Olga Shulyakovskaya, Vladimir Drobnyak, Alessandro Morelli, Andrei Shinkevich.
"This event aims to honor the millions of innocent victims and to remind us of the importance of preserving peace and fighting hatred," the announcement states.
The realization of the project and events in Montenegro was supported by: Jewish Community of Montenegro, Rabbi Ari Edelkopf, German Embassy in Montenegro, Israeli Embassy in Serbia, Jewish Cultural Center headed by The righteous man is the righteous, Art School for Primary and Secondary Music Education "Andre Navara" with the director Bogdan Asanović, Cultural and Information Center "Budo Tomović" and Maja Popović, as well as the Royal Theater Zetski Dom.
This is an important thread that connects all countries where people of great strength and grace have lived. The intercultural aspect is fundamental, interaction is critical. This is a chance for everyone to connect through music, but also an opportunity to present their culture, tell a story, discuss and initiate dialogue. The greatest and most important value of all this for us is to unite people through music, to share, collaborate and create the 'global village' that we all need! Unity is strength", says Ana Lenkova.
Bonus video:
