"We are now in Žarošice. It is beautiful here. I like Žarošice better than Vienna. I feel at home here. I will write. Now I have to look. And soak up all this beauty. When I return to school, I will use it and live off it. Like a camel from its fat reserves."

These are the words of Ruth Maier from her diary in July 1936. Ruth Maier's words teach us not only how to absorb beauty, but also give us many other valuable lessons. That is why we have decided to return regularly to Žarošice and the legacy of Ruth Maier. We organize a five-day creative meeting at the local school for students from the village and surrounding area, Austria, and Norway. Each year, we work in a different way, inspired by the many talents that were not given the opportunity to fully develop within the framework of one girl's life.
The third year of the camp will take place from June 14 to 18, 2026, and will be dedicated to creative theater work under the guidance of Adéla Kratochvílová and Magdalena Kovářová. We look forward to seeing new faces from Oslo, Brno, St. Pölten, and Žarošice.
Adéla Kratochvílová – juggler, actress, director, and writer. She works at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where she leads the Educational Drama Studio for the Deaf. In 2022, she directed the student graduation performance Diary of a Girl – Studio Marta in Brno, inspired by Ruth Maier's Diary.

Magdalena Kovářová – actress who played the lead role in the graduation performance Diary of a Girl at Studio Marta in Brno.

"We are now in Žarošice. It is beautiful here. I like Žarošice better than Vienna. I feel at home here. I will write. Now I have to look. And soak up all this beauty. When I return to school, I will use it and live off it. Like a camel from its fat reserves."

These are the words of Ruth Maier from her diary in July 1936. Ruth Maier's words teach us not only how to absorb beauty, but also give us many other valuable lessons. That is why we have decided to return regularly to Žarošice and the legacy of Ruth Maier. We organize a five-day creative meeting at the local school for students from the village and surrounding area, Austria, and Norway. Each year, we work in a different way, inspired by the many talents that were not given the opportunity to fully develop within the framework of one girl's life.

In 2025, we continued with the second year, which this time focused on creative writing. Participants had the opportunity to work with literary techniques and draw inspiration from Ruth's notes, which convey her thoughts, hopes, and desires during the Holocaust. The second year took place again in Žarošice, where Ruth herself often returned and which she wrote about as her home.

II. Camel was led by Eva Lustigová, Táňa Klementová, and, above all, Štěpánka Jislová (https://www.patreon.com/stepankajislova https://www.jislova.com FB: @stepanka.jislova.art IG: @jislovka ).

Lecture by Štěpánka Jislová (co-author of the comic book edition of the diaries)

Description

As part of the narrative workshop, participants chose a section from Ruth Maier's life, which they then developed into a pitch, i.e., a proposal for the final form of the work. The workshop focused on storytelling and narrative techniques, so participants were given free rein to choose the form of their adaptation (comic book script, radio play, film, etc.). The aim of the workshop is not to create a complete work in its final form, but rather a comprehensive proposal for the concept of the story.

Output

At the end of the workshop, each team presented their project, which consisted of processing a selected period of Ruth Maier's life. For a better understanding, participants can imagine this process as presenting a potential film to a production studio. The presentation took 10 to 15 minutes, with the contribution of all team members, and included both text and visual elements. Participants answered additional questions from the lecturer and the audience. Among other things, the presentation included: the narrative structure of the selected section from Ruth Maier's diaries, justification of the selected medium and specific adaptation of the narrative to that medium, descriptions and characteristics of the characters, historical research, analysis and exploration of narrative themes, etc.

Technical notes

Participants were divided into groups of three to four members so that, ideally, no team would have the same nationality distribution. The working language of the workshop was English, which the participants not only used to communicate with each other, but also to present the final form of the project. Each team was equipped with at least one laptop.

Objective

The aim of the workshop was to provide participants with tools for processing various forms of stories, to strengthen their public speaking and storytelling skills, and, last but not least, to familiarize them with the life and fate of Ruth Maier in an interactive way.

Participants in the 2025 camp on a guided tour of the Jewish cemetery in Dambořice.

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"We are now in Žarošice. It is beautiful here. I like Žarošice better than Vienna. I feel at home here. I will write. Now I have to look. And soak up all this beauty. When I return to school, I will use it and live off it. Like a camel from its fat reserves."

These are the words of Ruth Maier from her diary in July 1936. Ruth Maier's words teach us not only how to absorb beauty, but also give us many other valuable lessons. That is why we have decided to return regularly to Žarošice and the legacy of Ruth Maier. We organize a five-day creative meeting at the local school for students from the village and surrounding area, Austria, and Norway. Each year, we work in a different way, inspired by the many talents that were not given the opportunity to fully develop within the framework of one girl's life.

From June 26 to 30, 2024, a pilot workshop called Žarošický velbloud (The Žarošice Camel) took place in Žarošice. The international creative camp hosted students from the Czech Republic, Austria, and Norway. The camp focused on graphic comic book creation. During the five-day program, students learned about the life of Ruth Maier and visited interesting places such as Schindler's factory in Brněnec and other sites connected with Jewish history and the present day. Above all, they worked under the guidance of experienced foreign lecturers.

Participants of the 2024 camp at a workshop in Villa Löw Beer in Brno.

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