Event information: 12.06. Commemorative Impulse in Bremen

Event information: 12.06. Commemorative Impulse in Bremen

Photo: Ramona Rücker

When: Thursday, 12.06.2025, 19:30 h

Where: Kukoon Cultural Center, 28201 Bremen

With: Ksenja Holzmann (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung/Denkort Bunker Valentin) Virginie Kamche (Afrika Netzwerk), Derviş Hızarcı (Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus), Lucy Debus (trotzdem da!)

Commemorative kick-off in Bremen – Whose responsibility? How the culture of remembrance is changing in the migration society

What role does the memory of the Nazi era play in a diverse society? How does migration change the way we remember? 80 years after the end of the Second World War, the question of how we can all keep the memory alive is being discussed. The event will feature panel discussions with experts, committed personalities and Bremen initiatives, insights into remembrance projects and the opportunity to talk to experts in person.

We from the Bremen Alliance for German-Czech Cooperation are also taking part with our project “NS-Injustice ‘Degenerated Music’”. We look forward to presenting our Liberation Dance and to exchanging ideas at our stand.

Free admission. Please register for the event at: https://www.stiftung-evz.de/veranstaltungen/anmeldungen/anmeldung-gedenkanstoss-in-bremen/

NS-Injustice "Degenerated Music"

The transnational project takes a comparative look at the Nazi persecution practices of the northwest German swing youth, the Czech potapki and the swing and jazz music scene in occupied Poland and develops multi-perspective, interdisciplinary and participatory mediation formats.

Tip: 10.07. Klezmer concert Yale Strom – Elizabeth Schwartz – Petr Dvorský – Sascha Yasins, 7.30 p.m.

Tip: Klezmer concert on July 10 in Bremen: Yale Strom - Elizabeth Schwartz - Petr Dvorský - Sascha Yasins

The Lastoria e.V. association invites you:

Violinist Yale Strom (USA) and his klezmer band “Hot Pstromi” will be performing on Thursday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Georg Büchner bookstore at Ziegenmarkt in Bremen’s Steintor.

It is the only concert by the American-Czech ensemble in northern Germany on this tour. “We are delighted that we have succeeded in bringing these wonderful artists back to Bremen,” writes the Lastoria Historical Society, which is being supported this time by bookseller Beruta Adolf. Yale Strom is a charismatic musician with more than 40 years of concert experience, klezmer researcher, composer, book author, photographer, award-winning documentary filmmaker. On almost 80 research trips to Eastern Europe, he has played with and learned from Jewish and Roma musicians, and he has preserved their musical heritage. Yale teaches at the University of San Diego. The son of progressive Jewish parents grew up speaking Yiddish in Detroit and San Diego.

One of his grandmothers, his Bubbe, was from Belarus, but he also has roots in Ukraine, Germany and Lithuania. “Yale is an ambassador of klezmer”, writes the Bremen historical society Lastoria. And that is to be taken literally: According to the European Center for Jewish Music, Hanover, Yale Strom was the first klezmer musician to perform at the United Nations General Assembly. His wife, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Schwartz, specializes in klezmer from Romania and is also a pioneer: in many a synagogue, she is the first woman to sing in front of an audience. The composition of “Hot Pstromi” changes. As in 2022, the ensemble includes two exceptional instrumentalists from Prague: the renowned double bassist Petr Dvorský comes from the Czech jazz scene. Sascha Yasinski, who comes from Belarus and also lives in Prague, is an enormously versatile accordionist. Together they revive Eastern European Jewish culture and improvise.

Tickets cost 20 euros and are on sale at the Georg Büchner bookshop, Vor dem Steintor 58.

Websites: https://www.yalestrom.com – https://www.elizabeth-schwartz.com – http://petrdvorsky.cz – https://www.yasinski.eu

08.05. Commemorative event: Liberation Dance, 6.00 p.m.

Commemorative event: Liberation Dance

Photo: Jiří Lubojacký

When: Thursday, 08.05.2025, 18:00 – 19:00 h

Where: Marketplace Bremen

Europe-wide flash mob to commemorate 80 years since the end of the Second World War

2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe with the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht.
It commemorates the liberation from National Socialism and the devastating war with over 60 million dead.

The Liberation Dance will be performed as a flash mob on May 8 as part of the tri-national project “Nazi injustice ‘Degenerate Music’. Persecuted swing dancers and jazz musicians in north-west Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland”.

The title “Jeepers Creepers” by Louis Armstrong was chosen because German swing youths sang it during forced labor in concentration camps, as they were persecuted by the Nazi regime because of their love of jazz and swing.

The Liberation Dance was conceived in Bremen together with dancers from all over Europe in remembrance of the war, but also in view of the strengthening of right-wing groups throughout Europe.

Dancing the choreography together, holding hands and building bridges, which can be recognized in the dance, stands for cohesion, for remembrance, because #Niewiederistjetzt

NS-Injustice "Degenerated Music"

The transnational project takes a comparative look at the Nazi persecution practices of the northwest German swing youth, the Czech potapki and the swing and jazz music scene in occupied Poland and develops multi-perspective, interdisciplinary and participatory mediation formats.

Concert/Tea-Dance: Agnamana Duo

Concert/Tea-Dance: Agnamana Duo

Photo: Sven Hallmann

25.08.2024, 3:30 pm

United Evangelical Community Bremen-Neustadt, Krankenstraße 11

The swinging Agnamana Duo from Bremen will be playing at the Swing Exchange weekend tea dance on Sunday. It consists of saxophonist Gilles Biedozi and his son Mael on drums. They will be accompanied by Claudius Tölke on double bass.

Admission: free

Nazi injustice "Degenerated music"

The transnational project takes a comparative look at the Nazi persecution practices of the northwest German swing youth, the Czech potapki and the swing and jazz music scene in occupied Poland and develops multi-perspective, interdisciplinary and participatory mediation formats.

Concert: Django H. Reinhardt with band and HFK musicians

History Talk + concert: Django H. Reinhardt with band and HFK musicians

19:00: History Talk

A history talk with Czech swing dancers Zuzana Hypsova and Zdeněk Pilecky will take place before the concert at 7 pm. Zdeněk Pilecky danced in the 1993 feature film “Swing Kids” and later founded the swing and tap dance studio ZIG-ZAG in Prague. Zuzana Hypsova works as a therapist with Holocaust survivors. They talk about how they use Lindy Hop in their therapeutic work. The interview is in English.

20:00 Concert/Social Dance

The concert starts at 20:00 with Social Dance. Django Heinrich Reinhardt belongs to one of the most famous jazz families in Europe. As part of our Swing Exchange weekend, he will be playing with parts of his swing orchestra and musicians from the Bremen University of the Arts in the St. Pauli parish in Bremen’s Neustadt district.

Admission: free