The Schindler's Ark Memorial in Brněnec could open in 2025

Brněnec - The Schindler's Ark Memorial, which the Löw-Beer family Foundation and Oskar Schindler intend to build in the former textile factory Vitka in Brněnec, Svitavy, could open in 2025. The long-neglected area is to be repaired and serve various purposes, stated Martin Netolický, the governor of the Pardubice Region (3PK/ČSSD), in a press release. During World War II, there was an Oskar Schindler factory in Brněnec, which saved about 1,200 Jewish workers through its production.

"Daniel Löw-Beer, who is now the owner of the entire area, prepared a project that includes not only a museum exhibition but also a cultural center, co-working activities, small textile production, and residential construction with a range of related services aimed at the elderly population. The owner's goal is to have the museum open by 2025," said Netolický.

The foundation intends to build a new building in the area, a so-called glass pavilion, which is to serve particularly for educational activities. Some other buildings are set to be repaired. From the original building where the workers slept, Schindler's Ark is to be created, where the film Schindler's List by director Steven Spielberg and other documents or interviews with direct participants would be screened. Additional space would be dedicated to the Löw-Beer family, who owned the factory before the war and reclaimed it some time ago, as well as to a museum of Jewish history in Czechoslovakia. The so-called German building, where German soldiers were based, and the building where Schindler had his office also stand in the area. Part of the area could be adapted into a park.

The foundation, which owns the entire area, is also in contact with the South Moravian Region and the city of Brno regarding the connection to the Tugendhat Villa. Fritz Tugendhat's wife, Greta, was the only daughter of the prominent Brno textile industrialist Alfred Löw-Beer.

The factory in Brněnec was founded as a paper mill, then served as a wool spinning mill, which the then owner Izák Löw-Beer gradually transformed into a significant textile factory. During the war, it was converted into an ammunition factory, and Brněnec became a sub-camp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. German entrepreneur Oskar Schindler moved about 1,200 workers from his enamel factory in Poland to the factory, thereby saving their lives. After 1989, the textile production in Brněnec was operated by Vitka company. When it went bankrupt in 2004, it was bought by Bustrex and renamed Vitka Textiles. It went bankrupt in 2011, production was halted, and since then the area has been abandoned.

Oskar Schindler, a native of Svitavy, is perceived by many as a controversial figure, not just as a hero and savior of Jews. He was also a member of the Nazi Party and the German military intelligence.

After the Nazi invasion of Poland, Schindler acquired a former Jewish enamel factory in Krakow and, as it was cheaper, hired Jews from the Krakow ghetto. However, the ghetto was liquidated, and its inhabitants were either killed or deported to the Plaszow concentration camp. When it was decided that all prisoners would be transported to Auschwitz, Schindler, through bribes and connections, managed to transport not only his employees but also their families to his other business, the ammunition factory in Brněnec, Moravia. Thus, before his death, he saved around 1,200 Polish Jews. After the war, he unsuccessfully tried to start a business and became the recipient of many awards. He died in Germany and is buried in Israel.