Als wäre das alles gestern geschehen / Jako by se to všechno stalo včera

In May 2020, on the 75th anniversary of the end of the war, the German-Czech Future Fund contacted nearly 1,000 survivors of Nazi persecution in the Czech Republic and asked them to share their personal memories and beliefs. Some of the responses, which came in the form of letters, emails, essays, books, and audio recordings, were used for this book. The portraits by Karel Cudlín, accompanied by quotes from the survivors, depict 22 personal life stories that represent countless others. What they all share is that their protagonists had to cope with traumatic experiences as young people, experiences that remain incomprehensible even more than 75 years later. They endured the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Theresienstadt, survived the destruction of Lidice, and witnessed their parents being shot before their eyes, executed as resistance fighters, or perishing in the concentration camps. To this day, the survivors are haunted by these traumas. Nevertheless, their memories convey remarkably little resignation. Radka Denemarková, one of the most well-known contemporary Czech authors who has engaged with the memories of the persecuted, was inspired by these recollections to write a remarkable essay about the Holocaust, modern society, and the inherent mechanisms of power within it. She seeks to question everyday habits. "As if it happened yesterday" raises questions about today and tomorrow, about "What comes next?" not only in the German-Czech context but beyond.