Screening, Lecture, Discussion

Under the beeches, you will find a safe refuge, wishes carved into the bark will come true. There are places where something went terribly wrong. The war ended, roles reversed. Those who had been at the bottom quickly gained the upper hand. Pleas for life went unheard, revenge outweighed everything else. Any sense of understanding for the suffering of others seemed to vanish.

In the video On the Peaks of All the Beech Mountains, created during a residency at the etc. gallery, Klára Trsková returns to the place known as “Bukové hory” in the Broumov region. At the end of the Second World War, women, children, and the elderly were murdered or beaten to death here — solely because they belonged to the German-speaking population or because their killers had old scores to settle. After the executions, their property could be claimed. They were buried in three graves in the forest, within sight of Poland.

In the accompanying lecture, author and curator Klára Trsková reflects on the concepts of the nation-state, collective guilt, and punishment. The discussion with the audience may open questions such as why ethnic cleansing and the forced movement of millions of people into so-called nationally homogeneous states have occurred — and continue to occur — or whether violence against those labeled as “inappropriate persons” is somehow inscribed in the very idea of the nation-state. Why do political leaders across countries keep returning to the notion that a “cleansed,” ethnically uniform state promises a simpler and better future? And how do communities feel that have never been able to claim a nation-state of their own?

The program can be made accessible in English upon request.

Camera, editing: Anežka Horová 
Animation: panika.xyz