Regine Beer

On the 17th of March 2007 some of us went to an event called 'Non-violence Day' in Kortrijk.
Not just because we are against violence, but also because we wanted to listen to Regine Beer's story.

Regine Beer, born on the 5th of November 1920 in Antwerp, is Jewish and although she didn't practice her religion, she had a 'J' for Jewish on her passport.
She was arrested, brought to the Dossinkazerne in Mechelen where she was imprisoned for several months and finally she got deported to Auschwitz.
In Auschwitz she was no more than a number: KZ A 5148.
She struggled to survive, to see her mother again and courageously made it through this hell.

She kept her past secret for a long time, but eventually she told her children everything.
After that, she visited more than 1000 schools to talk about what she had experienced.

She pleads for peace and friendship. This ordeal should never happen again.

Charlotte Salomon by Greet Vissers

Thursday the 8th of February we went to the play ‘Charlotte Salomon’ by Greet Vissers. It was performed by theatre group ‘Blauw’ in playroom the Schakel in Waregem. The story was represented well. With the use of puppets everything was very clear. The stage setting was very simple: A black piano on the right with a pianist and an opera singer, both dressed in black. The rest of the stage setting and the players were white. By using those contrasts, you could see very well who the real actors were and who took care of the singing. Dressed in black, you immediately saw that they didn’t belong to the actors. They used coloured puppets and players dressed in white. The players were portrayed as a white sheet of paper and the puppets were the drawings who came alive. The actors were chosen well, different from Charlotte. She was portrayed too immature and too open. The storybook with the gouaches gave the impression that Charlotte was rather withdrawn.

The suicide part in Charlotte her life

A lot of Charlotte’s relatives have committed suicide. According to Mary Lowenthal Felstiner were those deaths not anomalous but exemplary! The one who broke the circle of the suicides in the Salomon family was Charlotte. She always chooses life, even if everything goes bad and life was unfair. All the persons who committed suicide in her family were women. Charlotte gives it an explanation.

“The relatively high rate among Jewish women stems from their inability to adapt to a difficult situation.”

“Physiological processes in the female organism.”

A least five of her family members committed suicide. But in the obituaries of her mother and grandmother, it wasn’t clear to see that they committed suicide.

Here you can see the two obituaries:

“After a short period of suffering, our beloved daughter, wife,
and mother, Franziska Knarre, passed away.
We ask that you abstain from condolence visits.”

20 March 1940, Marianne Benda died in her home, Villa,
“Eugenie,” Avenue Neuscheller: born in Berlin, Germany,
on 24 July 1867, daughter of George Benda and of a mother whose
names are not known, wife of Grunwald whose first name is not known.

The family was scared that other people would know it. In that time was suicide a taboo. People don’t talk about it, they try to hide it.

It was a great shock for Charlotte when she heard from her grandfather that a lot of her family members committed suicide.

Why didn’t she do it? What was her reason to choose life?

Fashion

We were wondering what people wore during the World War 2 so we looked it up!

Women:
-Women were not allowed to wear defiant clothes or trousers.
-Scarfs (worn around the neck or head)
-Dresses with typical buttons.
-Strap shoes
-Gloves
-Umbrellas
-Their clothes were usually black or very dark
-Most women had the 'Veronica Lake hairstyle'

Men:
-Hats
-Suits consisted of a jacket and a pair of pants. The jackets were broad shouldered with wide lapels.
-Their clothes were usually black/very dark as well.
-They usually had a centre parting hairstyle.

Pictures used for educational reasons only

Connection?

On a lot of gouaches you can see Charlotte & Daberlohn holding hands. This can be seen as very normal. A connection between two people. But I don't know if I would like to be connected to a man that also has a relationship with my stepmother. What do you think?

Thunder and lightning

“Thunder and lightning have always been best at purifying the world.”

What do you think of this expression? Is it right or is there something else that purifies the world? Which one of the two (Charlotte or Daberlohn) would said this expression?

Beginning and ending

These two images are very much alike. The picture on the left is our decor from art scene and on the right the painting is one of charlotte. The story of Charlotte begins with two empty benches and ends with empty benches. And if they're on the bench, it isn't for a long time, just like their relationship, it doesn't last so long too.