On Saturday, 7th May 2022, a (non)Festival “Řétízkárna”, a benefit event to support the rescue of the former mine changing room from the 1950s, the last building preserved in its original condition from the area of the camp and the mine in the Rovnost area, took place in Jáchymov. Whole event was organized by the Association Political prisoners.eu in cooperation with the Journalist Incubator and other partners.
The festival program unofficially started already on Friday 6th May, when a large group of students from the medical school from Karlovy Vary passed through the Rovnost area with guides. However, the main action for the public starts on Saturday. In the morning, two groups led by Tomáš Bouška and Michal Louč from the Political prisoners.eu went through the educational trail Jáchymov’s hell. In the afternoon, they were followed by several guided tours on Rovnost itself, including “Řetízkárna”, Paleček’s Castle and Rovnost shaft. The visitors were also joined by several local cottagers, a group of participants of the Czech-German Young Professionals Program (CGYPP) or Tomáš Barth from Junák, Arnika Jáchymov center.
A series of discussions with interesting guests were prepared for the afternoon at the Berghof Hotel. For example, Michal Urban from the Montanregion of the Ore Mountains – Erzgebirge spoke about the history of local mines, Petr Kuča and Jan Helebrant from the State Institute of Radiation Protection about radioactivity, or archaeologist Pavel Vařeka from the University of West Bohemia about the archaeological research of the Jáchymov camps. The director of the Sokolov Museum and Gallery n. 1, Michael Rund, the coordinator of the Karlovy Vary branch of Paměť národa, Lukáš Květoň, and the businessman Rudolf Belec also spoke there. The senator for Karlovy Vary, Jan Horník, supported our (non)Festival too.
Several interesting organizations also presented their activities in the center of the event on Saturday afternoon. Among them were Association Political prisoners.eu, Montagregion Krušné Hory – Erzgebirge, Gallery no. 1, Paměť národa – Karlovy Vary and Democratic Center. Workshops and sports activities for children were prepared by the Science 21 Foundation and No Limits.
Thank you all so much for visiting, supporting and helping spread the word about our rescue project and fundraiser!
We also thank the helpers from Political prisoners.eu (Petra Loučová), the Journalist Incubator (Helena Penno Hartlová, Monika Le, journalist-interns) and everyone else who participated in the preparations.
