Virtual Opera PUSH Epilogue ~ Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles

Online virtual PUSH Opera – Finale with giant choir – Lockdown 2020 🇧🇪 🇬🇧

Online premiere April 19, 2020 – A virtual performance online now of the epilogue of community opera PUSH , entitled : Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles | My life is only miracles – hosted by composer Howard Moody.
More than 150 singers from the UK & Belgium have recorded the finale of PUSH and film editor Shogo Hino has edited the result into a virtual performance uniting the four casts and choruses.

Screening started in the night of the 19th April 2020, exactly 77 years after three Brussels resistance heroes stopped the Nazi train Transport XX, transporting 1600 Jewish deportees to Auschwitz, and more than 200 prisoners escaped from the train before the German border.

Based on Simon Gronowski’s story
Epilogue from the opera PUSH – based on the story of Simon Gronowski – an 11 year old Jewish boy who was pushed from the train – Transport XX – by his mother on the way to Auschwitz.

A virtual performance during the April 2020 Corona virus lockdown by members of the casts from previous productions of PUSH in Battle, Chichester, Salisbury, London and Brussels.

Composer and librettist Howard Moody on piano, Carlos Bruneel on flute, and with the soloists James Newby, Sheva Tehoval, Tereza Gevorgyan, Ivan Ludlow, Lars Thorkildsen, Ciaran o’Donovan and Eleanor Farmer.
Soundmix and additional production by Adrian Zolotuhin.
Film editing by Shogo Hino.

Howard Moody Website – https://www.howardmoody.co.uk/

Additional video work from the Miracles project by Michel van der Burg ~ miracles.media ~ and Richard & Karen Bloom.

With special thanks to Simon Gronowski, and Linda Lovrovic, Sue Kent, Sally Lampitt, Chris Stones, Jill Hoskings, Claire Apel, Jo Nicolai, Philippe Paque, Benoît Giaux, Andrea Frankenthal, and Sarah Ehrlich.

In memory of the three members of the Belgian resistance Jean Franklemon, Robert Maistriau and Youra Livschitz, whose bravery in April 1943 saved the lives of many, as our health workers continue to do today.

Online virtuele PUSH Opera – Finale met gigantisch koor – Lockdown 2020 🇧🇪 🇬🇧

Een virtuele voorstelling – nu online – van de epiloog van de community opera PUSH, getiteld: Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles | Mijn leven is slechts mirakels – gehost door componist Howard Moody.

Meer dan 150 zangers uit het VK en België hebben de finale van PUSH opgenomen en filmeditor Shogo Hino heeft het resultaat bewerkt tot een virtuele uitvoering die de vier casts en koren verenigt.

De online vertoning begon in de nacht van 19 april 2020, precies 77 jaar nadat drie Brusselse verzetshelden de nazi-trein Transport XX stopten – die 1600 Joodse gedeporteerden naar Auschwitz vervoerde – waarbij meer dan 200 gevangenen uit de trein ontsnapten nog voor de Duitse grens.

Gebaseerd op het verhaal van Simon Gronowski.

Finale uit de opera PUSH – gebaseerd op het verhaal van Simon Gronowski – een 11-jarige Brusselse joodse jongen, die door zijn moeder uit de Transport XX trein naar Auschwitz werd geduwd.

Een virtuele uitvoering tijdens de Corona-virus lockdown in april 2020 door leden van de casts uit eerdere producties van PUSH in Battle, Chichester, Salisbury, Londen en Brussel.

Componist en librettist Howard Moody op piano, Carlos Bruneel op fluit en met de solisten James Newby, Sheva Tehoval, Tereza Gevorgyan, Ivan Ludlow, Lars Thorkildsen, Ciaran o’Donovan en Eleanor Farmer.

Soundmix en aanvullende productie door Adrian Zolotuhin.

Film editing door Shogo Hino.

Howard Moody-website – https://www.howardmoody.co.uk/

Extra videowerk uit het Miracles-project van Michel van der Burg ~ miracles.media ~ en Richard & Karen Bloom.

Met speciale dank aan Simon Gronowski en Linda Lovrovic, Sue Kent, Sally Lampitt, Chris Stones, Jill Hoskings, Claire Apel, Jo Nicolai, Philippe Paque, Benoît Giaux, Andrea Frankenthal en Sarah Ehrlich.

Ter nagedachtenis aan de drie leden van het Belgische verzet Jean Franklemon, Robert Maistriau en Youra Livschitz, wiens moed in april 1943 het leven van velen heeft gered, zoals onze gezondheidswerkers vandaag de dag nog steeds doen.

Opéra virtuel PUSH en ligne – Finale avec choeur géant – Lockdown 2020 🇧🇪 🇬🇧

Une performance virtuelle en ligne de l’épilogue de l’opéra communautaire PUSH, intitulée: Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles – mise en musique par le compositeur Howard Moody.

Plus de 150 chanteurs du Royaume-Uni et de Belgique ont enregistré la finale de PUSH et le monteur Shogo Hino a édité le résultat en une performance virtuelle réunissant les quatre castings et chœurs.

La mise en ligne a commencé dans la nuit du 19 avril 2020, exactement 77 ans après que trois héros de la résistance bruxelloise aient arrêté le Vingtième Convoi nazi transportant 1600 déportés juifs à Auschwitz, et que plus de 200 prisonniers se soient échappés du train avant la frontière allemande.

Basé sur l’histoire de Simon Gronowski.

Épilogue de l’opéra PUSH – basé sur l’histoire de Simon Gronowski – un garçon juif de 11 ans qui a été poussé du train – le Vingtième Convoi – par sa mère sur le chemin d’Auschwitz.

Une performance virtuelle lors du confinement imposé par le Coronavirus en avril 2020 par des membres des castings des productions précédentes de PUSH à Battle, Chichester, Salisbury, Londres et Bruxelles.

Le compositeur et librettiste Howard Moody au piano, Carlos Bruneel à la flûte et les solistes James Newby, Sheva Tehoval, Tereza Gevorgyan, Ivan Ludlow, Lars Thorkildsen, Ciaran o’Donovan et Eleanor Farmer.

Mixage et post-production par Adrian Zolotuhin.

Montage du film par Shogo Hino.

Site Web de Howard Moody – https://www.howardmoody.co.uk/

Œuvre vidéo supplémentaire du projet Miracles de Michel van der Burg ~ miracles.media ~ et Richard & Karen Bloom.

Remerciements particuliers à Simon Gronowski et Linda Lovrovic, Sue Kent, Sally Lampitt, Chris Stones, Jill Hoskings, Claire Apel, Jo Nicolai, Philippe Paque, Benoît Giaux, Andrea Frankenthal et Sarah Ehrlich.

En mémoire des trois membres de la résistance belge Jean Franklemon, Robert Maistriau et Youra Livschitz, dont la bravoure en avril 1943 a sauvé la vie de beaucoup, comme notre personnel actif dans le secteur des soins de santé continue de le faire aujourd’hui.

Notes

20200420 – update text – added dutch & french text section (merci Philippe Renette pour la relecture du texte français de cet article).

Ateliers Monnaie PUSH

Ateliers Monnaie PUSH
Kids enter the Brussels’ Ateliers La Monnaie / De Munt last year March 14 , 2019 , for the Belgian premiere of the community opera PUSH – a community project – based on the story of Simon Gronowski , holocaust survivor and a Brussels resident. The Belgian queen Mathilde was attended by Simon Gronowski and family. After the show , just before all had left, Amos Suchecki (from the chorus Choeurs d’enfants de la Monnaie) sings me this song a cappella in the hallway – here in the background of this video clip.

April 19th 2020 – Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles –
Tomorrow, April 19th 2020, a special virtual performance of the finale of PUSH – “Ma Vie N’est Que Miracles” – will premiere Online hosted by Howard Moody, Composer – with more than 150 singers from the UK and Belgium (Bexhill, Brussels, Chichester and Salisbury) – exactly 77 years after Simon Gronowski was helped by his mother Chana to jump from the 20th train to Auschwitz after three Resistance heroes stopped this Nazi train transporting 1600 Jewish deportees.
Film : Ateliers Monnaie PUSH (20200418) Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media

Brussels Liberated

Brussels Liberated
From : The Year 1944 United Newsreel ( 208 UN 1034 USHMM RG-60.3053 | Film ID: 2396 ) courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum / National Archives and Records Administration . Filmed Sep. 3, 1944 in Brussels (Producer: United News Company). BUM20200415_29_19440903 .
Film : Brussels Liberated (20200415) Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media.

Deportation Train | 20200414 v20200415

Deportation Train
Deportation train departure 19 May 1944 at the dutch Westerbork transit camp filmed by Rudolf Breslauer. Shortly thereafter 20 km north in the dutch town Assen, train cars are added from the belgian Transport XXV (25) from transit camp Kazerne Dossin (Dossin barracks) in Mechelen, and the combined transport with Jews, Sinti and Roma, including Settela Steinbach, continues to the east …

Filmed by Rudolf Breslauer 19 May 1944 in Camp Westerbork, Netherlands. From Westerbork film montage reel 1 (RVD cat.nr. 02-1167-01) courtesy of Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid | OpenImages.
BUM20200415_31_19440519 .
Deportation Train | 20200414 v20200415 | Michel van der Burg | Settela•Com

Updates

20220604 – Format changes credit line

Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945 | 20200325

Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945 .
(silent film)
My mother did not tell me much and no details on her experiences in World War 2, except for the Hongerwinter (“Hunger winter”) – the Dutch famine of 1944–45 – that she had to eat tulip bulbs.

As children in the 1950s our mother always told us to finish and clean our plates (and pretty large portions, served by our parents) , before being allowed to leave the table. The one thing we were regularly reminded of was the famine my mother and others had experienced…and that she even had to eat tulip bulbs – then a 16-year old teenager living (with her parents) in the city of The Hague during the Dutch famine of 1944–45.
The famine was caused by a German blockade plus the harsh winter blocking alternative water routes, that cut off food and fuel shipments to the western Netherlands were food stocks rapidly ran out in the large cities of The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam . Tulip bulbs and sugar beets were commonly consumed. Trees in The Hague city woods (like Scheveningse Bosjes shown in the film) were cut , and in the end furniture and houses were dismantled to provide fuel for heating.
When the famine was worst and deaths were reaching a peak , the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood of The Hague – were my mothers family lived – was bombed by British bomber crews with the wrong coordinates flying in fog and clouds, causing widespread death and destruction. More on that ‘Bombing of the Bezuidenhout’ later this month.

Menno Huizinga (1907–1947) took photographs illegally during the occupation , mainly in his hometown The Hague in Holland. He was a member of the group of Dutch photographers ‘De Ondergedoken Camera’ (1943-1945) – The Underground Camera – doing resistance work during the Second World War.

‘Eating Tulip Bulbs ~ Hunger Winter Holland 1944-1945’ is a silent film by Michel van der Burg , using photographs captured during this ‘Hunger winter’ 1944-1945 by Menno Huizinga in Holland (mainly in The Hague) from the public domain collection of the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies , curated by Dutch Network War Collections (NOB) for WO2 Open Data Depot via Wikimedia Commons.

Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest

Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest
NL – Transport XX . Bestemming Auschwitz. Een historische roman van Mark De Geest (1951) filmmaker in Belgie. Uitgever Horizon. Paperback 9789492958365 E-book 9789492958372 . Vandaag uitgekomen.
Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog werden in België meer dan 25.000 Joden vanuit de Dossinkazerne in Mechelen per trein naar Auschwitz gedeporteerd. Drie jongemannen uit Brussel besluiten tot actie over te gaan en beramen een levensgevaarlijk plan om een volgende trein te stoppen en zoveel mogelijk gevangenen te bevrijden. Op 19 april 1943 vertrekt Jodentransport XX met 1.631 mannen, vrouwen en kinderen. Gewapend met slechts één pistool staan de drie jongemannen klaar om de trein tot stoppen te dwingen…
Meer dan 10 jaar geleden al raakte Mark De Geest geboeid door de overval op Transport XX. Hij hoopte er een film over te maken, en die plannen liggen nog op tafel, maar eerst is er nu deze historische roman.

Transport XX ~ Mark De Geest
EN – Historical novel (Dutch language) ‘Transport XX . Destination Auschwitz’ by Belgian filmmaker and author Mark De Geest .
More than 10 years ago Mark De Geest became fascinated by the attack on Transport XX. He hoped to make a film about it, and those plans are still in place , but he now publishes this historical novel first. Paperback 9789492958365 E-book 9789492958372 available from today.
I preordered all , and expect the e-book in the Apple Book Store later today (March 13, 2020).

English intro below from the online documentary film “Transport XX to Auschwitz” – https://michelvanderburg.com/2013/04/19/transport-xx-to-auschwitz/ .

During the Nazi occupation of Belgium 28 train convoys with over 25,000 Jews and 351 Roma left Mechelen towards the Auschwitz extermination camp.
On the night of April 19, 1943, the 20th transport headed East with 1631 Jewish passengers crammed into 40 cattle cars.
This ‘Transport XX’ left the Mechelen transit camp ‘Kazerne Dossin’ at 10 pm. and was attacked and stopped some 30 minutes later outside Brussels – near Boortmeerbeek.
Armed with only 1 pistol, pliers and an improvised red hurricane lamp the three young Belgians Robert Maistriau, Jean Franklemon, and Youra Livschitz – old schoolmates – stopped the train by putting the red lamp in the middle of rails. They were able to open one of the cattle cars and liberated 17 men and women. Another more than 200 prisoners escape from the train before the German border.

Book : Transport XX – Bestemming Auschwitz. Mark De Geest ISBN 9789492958365 | horizon.be
Film : 20200313 Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | 1-memo.com

Transport XX ~ Additional Brussels 2009 Footage

Transport XX ~ Additional Brussels 2009 Footage .
For this film I have chosen footage of my February 2009 video recordings that has not been used before in the making of the short film “TRANSPORT XX – installation Brussels” (and later productions based on that film) – works published online before since Apr 19, 2009 at my web site(s), and collected in this 1st post : https://michelvanderburg.com/2009/04/19/transport-xx-installation-brussels/

The TRANSPORT XX installation in Brussels was organised from 27 January to 15 March 2009 by the BELvue Museum in collaboration with the JMDR / Dossin Barracks (Kazerne Dossin – more info below).
The photographic portraits were displayed outside in the Royal park in Brussels (opposite the Royal Palace). In this way passers-by were confronted with 1,200 faces of the victims.
This event commemorated the release of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) on 27 January 1945.

Made possible by: Project “Give them a Face” – Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on the Holocaust and Human Rights (Mechelen, BE); and the National State Archives of Belgium. Ministry of Justice, Public Safety Office, Foreigner’s Police, individual files. Film : 20200228 Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg.com | miracles.media