An information center will open in the former factory of Oskar Schindler in Brněnec

Brněnec – The Museum of Survivors in the former factory of Oskar Schindler in Brněnec, Svitavy district, still lacks funds for the repair of buildings on the site. Last year, it opened two permanent exhibitions in the original production hall, but other buildings from the former concentration camp are still in poor condition. An information center will be created in the former office building, which belongs to the municipality, project manager of Schindler's Ark, Milan Šudoma, said to ČTK.

"Now one of the buildings that belonged to the concentration camp will be opened here, the municipality is turning it into an information center that should be completed by summer," Šudoma stated.

The museum aims to at least create a permanent outdoor exhibition that should better convey what the concentration camp looked like. "We have defined the boundaries with barbed wire, outside we will have panels that will map it out, we have made a new entrance with parking for visitors, but that's all," Šudoma said.

The museum is also to include the so-called Schindler's Ark, part of the factory where prisoners lived and worked, and the SS barracks. However, the Löw-Beer family and Oskar Schindler Foundation lacks money for these facilities, and they continue to deteriorate. The buildings are historically protected.

During the summer, the outdoor areas of the museum will be open from Wednesday to Sunday, while the indoor exhibitions will only be open occasionally. They present works by designers from the Bauhaus art school. Pioneers of the avant-garde faced the challenge of rebuilding their status in the professional world after the rise of Nazism and had to start from scratch. The exhibition features a unique collection of artistic works in the form of textiles, graphic prints, and ceramics. Another exhibition depicts life in the concentration camp and is dedicated to those who survived the Holocaust. The panels display period photographs, documents, and information, along with historical objects such as suitcases and a motorcycle exhibited in showcases. This is complemented by audiovisual presentations.

During World War II, the Brněnec factory, led by businessman Oskar Schindler, produced ammunition and became a sub-camp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. Originally established as a paper mill, it later served as a wool spinning mill, leading the then owner Isaac Löw-Beer to build a significant textile factory.

After the Nazis invaded Poland, Schindler acquired a former Jewish enamel factory in Krakow, and since it was cheaper, he hired Jews from the Krakow ghetto. However, the ghetto was liquidated, and its inhabitants were either murdered or deported to the concentration camp in Plaszow. When it was decided that all prisoners would be transferred to Auschwitz, Schindler used bribes and connections to ensure that he not only transported his employees but also their families to his next company, the ammunition factory in Brněnec, Moravia. Before his death, he saved about 1,200 Polish Jews. After the war, he struggled in business and became a holder of many awards. He died in 1974 in Germany and is buried in Israel.

The textile factory in Brněnec was operated by the Vitka company after 1989. When it went bankrupt in 2004, it was purchased by Bustrex and renamed Vitka Textiles. In 2011, it ended up in bankruptcy, production was halted, and the site has been abandoned since then. The Löw-Beer family and Oskar Schindler Foundation purchased it in 2018.