In the presence of the Czech Prime Minister, Jan Fischer, and an EU representative, a Terezín Declaration will be announced and a Memorandum of the Czech EU Presidency signed with the EU at the end of the conference in Terezín on Tuesday, 30 June 2009. Commemorating the Defiant Requiem by Verdi performed in the Terezín ghetto, the closing concert conducted by Murry Sidlin of the Oregon Philharmonic will take place at the former Terezín Riding School.
The rich accompanying programme of the conference will see the exhibition of Jewish art entitled “Memories Returned” at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague on 26 June 2009 and a press conference on “Ransom for Life” – a book by Helena Krejčová and Mario Vlček.
On Saturday, 27 June 2009, the memorial plaque of Lenka Reinerová will be unveiled on the first anniversary of her death and the latest book of her memoirs – Ferry Ticket – presented.
The accompanying programme of the conference will additionally see the world premier of Golem 13, a kabbalistic drama by George Whyte set to music by Noam Sheriff performed at the Prague National Theatre, the exhibition of Edward Serotta entitled “Library of Rescued Memories” and other exhibitions organised by participating countries.
The conference will also be accompanied by a film festival, The Legacy of Shoa. Held under the auspices of Ben Kingsley at the Prague cinema Světozor on 27-28 June 2009, the festival will welcome the Czech-American director of documentaries and writer, Zuzana Justmanová, whose debut documentary of 1989 – Terezín Diary – was inspired by the diaries she wrote during her stay at Terezín in 1943-1945. The festival will present her award-winning documentary of 1997, Voices of the Children – an Emmy award-winning story for Outstanding Historical Programming of three people who have survived the imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camps.
Apart from another award-winning documentary, Children of the Night, by Marion Wiesel, the festival will present other documentaries, including the successful “Forgotten Transports” series by Lukáš Přibyl (the “Forgotten Transports to Poland” won the 2009 One World International Documentary Film Festival Public Award), films by Pavel Štingl such as Ghetto Called Baluty, the documentary by Matěj Mináč, The Power of Good, and feature films on the Holocaust – The Shop on Main Street, Distant Journey and Defiance.
On June 22-26 2009, documentary films on the Holocaust will be screened for schoolchildren at the Prague cinema Světozor. Presented within the “One World at Schools” project carried out by People in Need, a Czech non-profit organization, the screenings will be followed by discussions with filmmakers and witnesses. Apart from the above-mentioned films, the children will see the documents Hitler, Stalin and Me by Helena Třeštíková, Seven Lights by Olga Sommerová, and Birds of a Black Feather by Břetislav Rychlík.