A series of events will recall crucial moments in the history of Brno

The city of Brno has decided to recall the year 1945 in a broader context, with an overlap before the Second World War to the present time. The City Council therefore declared 2015 the Year of Reconciliation.

The project idea is based on the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The program of the Year of Reconciliation is designed as a set of interrelated events with the aim to pay homage to all the victims and show Brno as a city able to recognize its own history in the European context.

Upon invitation by the Tourist Information Centre of the City of Brno, which is the coordinator of the project, twenty-six organizations or associations came up with their events, among them the Brno City Museum, Museum of Roma Culture, Moravian Regional Museum, Moravian Gallery in Brno, Jiří Mahen Library in Brno, National Theatre Brno, Brno Municipal Theatre, Brno Philharmonic, Masaryk University, Sokol Brno I,  Černovice Association and Jota Publishers. These organizations entered the project with a total of fifty-six events.

In the main mission of the Year of Reconciliation is to commemorate, in a dignified manner, this year's anniversary of the most tragic historical event of the 20th century. "Thus far, Brno has always accentuated especially the military success of the Red Army. The tragedy of the last century can no longer be undone and some scars will never heal. People of the Jewish faith, the Roma ethnicity or German-speaking citizens, however, were – and still are – residents of our city and part of its story. We must not, and after all, even cannot, throw them in oblivion. In fact, they also form the mosaic named Brno," says Jaroslav Ostrčilík, a co-author of the  project.

The most significant events marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War will feature, in April and May, memorial gatherings at the Brno Central Cemetery and at Kaunic halls of residence, an exhibition in the New Town Hall Cloister entitled Life In The Shadow Of The Gallows or the traditional Pilgrimage Of Reconciliation, which this year will symbolically head in the opposite direction – from Pohořelice to Brno.

The listed events have been evaluated in accordance with the intent and programming  concept of the Year of Reconciliation; the city also offered its marketing and organizational support.