



It is 1949. New employees of the Ministry of Information and Enlightenment are starting work. Their task is to investigate the Laichter family, democratically minded publishers who publish Masaryk as well as Czech and international literature. They must pass through the historic rooms of Laichter House, designed by architect Jan Kotěra, where the family lives and works, and search for evidence of their guilt or innocence before the state. Working in groups with artefacts and materials found in the publishing house archive, they must design and create a new magazine to fill the place left by the liquidated literature of Jan Laichter's publishing house. Each participant has their own tasks and goals, and it is up to each of them how they fulfil their fate. Will the new magazine meet all the requirements of the communist regime? What will happen to the employees after the magazine's final censorship?
In 1949, the communist government passed a law that liquidated more than 300 private publishing houses in Czechoslovakia. Politically undesirable books were systematically destroyed in the hundreds of thousands. The effects of this law on literature and culture more broadly remain largely forgotten today.
The workshop was created in cooperation with Memory of Nations with the support of the ČEZ Foundation. It also addresses censorship in today's world, propaganda, and disinformation.
The workshop takes place in the historic Laichter House building in Vinohrady. In addition to role play, it includes a tour of this architectural monument and is led by trained lecturers experienced in drama education and role-playing.
It is 1949. New employees of the Ministry of Information and Enlightenment are starting work. Their task is to investigate the Laichter family, democratically minded publishers who publish Masaryk as well as Czech and international literature. They must pass through the historic rooms of Laichter House, designed by architect Jan Kotěra, where the family lives and works, and search for evidence of their guilt or innocence before the state. Working in groups with artefacts and materials found in the publishing house archive, they must design and create a new magazine to fill the place left by the liquidated literature of Jan Laichter's publishing house. Each participant has their own tasks and goals, and it is up to each of them how they fulfil their fate. Will the new magazine meet all the requirements of the communist regime? What will happen to the employees after the magazine's final censorship?
In 1949, the communist government passed a law that liquidated more than 300 private publishing houses in Czechoslovakia. Politically undesirable books were systematically destroyed in the hundreds of thousands. The effects of this law on literature and culture more broadly remain largely forgotten today.
The workshop was created in cooperation with Memory of Nations with the support of the ČEZ Foundation. It also addresses censorship in today's world, propaganda, and disinformation.
The workshop takes place in the historic Laichter House building in Vinohrady. In addition to role play, it includes a tour of this architectural monument and is led by trained lecturers experienced in drama education and role-playing.