PROGRAM DETAILS

8.00 am
Departure from Vienna (MAK)

Approx. 10.30 am
Arrival in Brněnec

From 11 am
Welcome and guided tour of the Museum of Survivors by Daniel Löw-Beer and Widar Halén (in English)

12.30–2.15 pm
Lunch & Film The Lemon – Arnošt Lustig, followed by a discussion with Eva Lustigová, Bau Sisters, Emanuel (in English)

Free time

3.30 pm
Departure from Brněnec

Approx. 6 pm
Arrival in Vienna (MAK)

Tour Leader: Rainald Franz, Curator and Keeper of the MAK Collection of Glass and Ceramics

Costs:
Regular €59
Discounted €53 (with MAK annual pass, MARS, students under 27, persons 65+ or with a valid pensioner’s ID)
Includes transportation, snack, museum admission, and tour

Tickets available in advance
No ticket sales on-site

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Museum of Survivors
"Whoever saves a life, saves the world entire"

Opening: Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11, 2025
On May 10 and 11, 2025, the Schindler’s Ark Festival will celebrate the end of World War II with the opening of the Museum of Survivors, featuring film, theater, and music.

The opening of the Museum of Survivors in Brněnec marks another step in the revitalization of the former Löw-Beer textile factory, owned by the Brno-based Löw-Beer family since the mid-19th century. After the breakup and subsequent annexation of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis, the family was dispossessed and expelled.

The Brněnec factory was originally founded as a paper mill, later transformed by its then-owner, Izák Löw-Beer, into a significant textile factory. During World War II, it was converted into an arms factory, and Brněnec became an external camp of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp. In 1944, the German entrepreneur Oskar Schindler relocated around 1,200 Jewish forced laborers from his enamel factory in Poland to the Brněnec factory, saving their lives.

After 1989, the textile production in Brněnec was operated by the company Vitka. When this went bankrupt in 2004, it was bought by Bustrex and renamed Vitka Textiles. In 2011, the company went bankrupt again, production ceased, and the site has been abandoned ever since. Daniel Löw-Beer, the grandson of the last owner Walter Löw-Beer, acquired the site and founded a foundation. The Schindler’s Ark Memorial and the presentation at the museum aim to remember the fate of Jewish craftswomen during the Nazi era. Lucie Rie, Lilly Reich, Otti Berger, Anni Albers, and Friedl Dicker-Brandeis will be featured through their works and their relationship with the Löw-Beer family. Together with the Pardubice region and the city of Brno, Brněnec is to be developed into a place of culture and remembrance.

For more information, visit the ARKS Foundation website.