»BergersDorf« – Deutsche, Tschechen und die Erinnerung an das Kriegsende 1945. Lesung und Gespräch mit Herma Kennel

In the organizer's words:

In Bohemia and Moravia, which belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy from 1526 to 1918, Czech and German inhabitants lived side by side for centuries. The village of Bergersdorf (today Kamenná u Jihlavy), located around 20 kilometers north of Jihlava, is just one example of many. Founded in the 13th century, it was located in a culturally and linguistically mixed region. It was only with the rise of nationalism in the 19th century that ethnic conflicts in the region intensified, although they initially remained largely non-violent. The situation became more complicated after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy and the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, which was dominated by the Czechs. The occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1938/39 led to massive violence and the oppression of the Czech part of the population.

When German rule came to an end at the end of the war in May 1945 and Czechoslovakia was re-established, violence against Germans broke out in many places. In 1996, the writer Herma Kennel became aware of the history of Bergersdorf - a village that was allowed to call itself an "SS village" for a time after 1939, as it had aroused the particular interest of SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger (1896-1975). In May 1945, several German inhabitants of Bergersdorf were murdered by Czech perpetrators. Herma Kennel turned the events leading up to and following the night of the murder into her factual novel based on meticulous research. After its first publication in German (2003) and Czech (2009), it attracted a great deal of media attention - including a report in the Tagesschau on ARD television - and for the first time led to criminal investigations against those still alive in the Czech Republic.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the events, Vitalis-Verlag in Prague is once again publishing a new edition of "BergersDorf", to which Herma Kennel has added an afterword on the history of the book's creation and impact.

As part of the event series "80 years since the end of the war in Europe"