Opening of the Exhibition Lives Cut Short and Presentation of the Ruth Maier Foundation

May 7, 2026 | 10:00 AM | Office Foyer, South Moravian Region, Žerotínovo nám. 449/3, Brno

You are cordially invited to the opening of the exhibition “Lives Cut Short. Searching for Refuge during the Holocaust: The Story of Ruth Maier.” The opening will include a round table discussion titled “The Price of Safety: Searching for Refuge Then and Now,” as well as a presentation of the newly established Ruth Maier Foundation.

Ruth Maier is not Anne Frank, yet she is often compared to her. She also kept diaries reflecting a direct experience of the Holocaust. Her writings capture the journey of adolescence and dreams for the future, the political backdrop of her time, the radicalization of Austrian society, the persecution of the Jews, the uncertainty of her Norwegian refuge, and her desperate search for any possible human connection.

Ruth Maier was born in 1920 in Vienna; her father came from Žarošice, and part of her extended family lived in Brno. Her diaries (1933–1942) are inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. We initiated the Czech translation of the diaries in 2021, and we are currently preparing their adaptation into a graphic novel.

The event is held under the auspices and with the support of: The South Moravian Region, the Municipality of Žarošice, the MEHRIN Moravian Jewish Museum, the City of Brno, the Norwegian Embassy in Prague, and the Foundation for Holocaust Victims.