November 17th, 1939
November 17th, 2015 – March 31st, 2016, foyer of the cinema, Small Fortress Terezín
The spontaneous demonstrations by Praguers on the national holiday marking Czechoslovak independence on October 28th 1939 were an expression of resistance to the occupation of the Czech Lands by Nazi Germany. Among those wounded in the suppression of the demonstrators was medical student Jan Opletal, whose funeral on November 15th became another occasion for a large protest, in particular by students and university lecturers. In retaliation, German security forces moved against universities on November 17th 1939 – nine student leaders were executed and more than a thousand students interned and sent in particular to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. At the same time, all universities within the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were closed until the end of the War. The exhibition considers the persecution of Czech and Moravian students during the years of the Nazi Occupation, describing their deportation and life in the concentration camps.
documentary exhibition