THE TRUDE SOJKA CULTURAL HOUSE AND HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL

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WHY THIS CULTURAL HOUSE AND HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL?

The Holocaust has touched the lives of people all over the world. Ecuador is no exception. Ecuador welcomed Jews during and immediately after the Holocaust giving them a new start in life. There was an anti-Nazi resistance movement in Ecuador that helped some Jews escape Europe. The story of the Jews of Ecuador is little known even in Ecuador itself. Trude Sojka was one of these Holocaust survivors. Her gratitude towards Ecuador and her admiration for pre-Columbian cultures is expressed in her artworks.

As homage to Trude Sojka’s memory and to Holocaust survivors in Ecuador, but also, bearing in mind that the world has a tendency to forget these terrible events, that racism and prejudice are not over, and that awareness is therefore extremely important, especially for newer generations, her daughters, Miriam Steinitz Kannan and Anita Steinitz, established in March 2009, a Cultural Center and Holocaust Memorial around the artist’s artwork, life and memory, in the home where she dwelled for almost 60 years.

This house, owned now by her daughters, was built by Trude Sojka and her husband, Hans Steinitz, at the “La Floresta” neighborhood, in Quito shortly after her arrival in Ecuador, after the war, in 1946. Trude had established here her workshop.

A show room at the Trude Sojka Cultural House

 

MAIN OBJECTIVES AND FEATURES

The Trude Sojka Cultural House aspires to promote tolerance in the world, to safeguard and make known the story of the artist, bearing witness to the fact that humankind can transform grief into beauty.

To fulfill these aims, the Trude Sojka Cultural House, opened to the public in March 12, 2009, is featuring a permanent museum of Trude Sojka’s paintings and sculptures, as well as two showrooms for temporary exhibits, art workshops for children, youngsters and adults; an art library with more than three thousand books, a cultural coffee shop with Czech specialties, and a small handicrafts shop named Akios (still under construction).

The visit begins with a Holocaust Memorial based upon the life and artwork of Trude Sojka (including her quest for freedom and peace against a background of oppression). In it, people may learn about tolerance, respect, ethnic diversity in Ecuador and aspects of Jewish history through art, reflection and memories. It ends at the room “From Memory to Hope”, meant to remember other genocides and to conclude with a message of peace.

Several large sculptures are exhibited in the gardens of the house.

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Small road, 1948, Portland cement & acrylics on wood

 

The Trude Sojka Cultural House is overseen by a non government organization, the “Trude Sojka Cultural Corporation”, registered in the Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture (Decree No. 4999, dated January 5, 2009).

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Eternal Flame, 1957, Cement, metal and acrylics, 80 x 25 x 25 cm

 

PARTNERS

This project is being accomplished with the support of:

  • Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference)
  • Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture

We are also in contact with Yad Vashem, the World Center for Holocaust Research, Documentation, Education and Commemoration in Jerusalem, that possesses a sculpture donated to them.