Photos: Andrea Ausztrics

Memory Sites 2: From the Horthyliget Internment Camp Memorial to László Göndör’s Living the Dream with my Grandma II: The Lunch

The Memory Sites 2 program combined a memorial visit, a related theatrical performance, and a public discussion to showcase key Holocaust memorials. This three-part program sought to initiate dialogue on remembrance, historical trauma, and the role of Holocaust memory in the urban space.

The second event took place on 28 May 2024, between 19:00 and 23:00. Its first stop was the Holocaust Memorial at Boráros Square, dedicated to the victims of forced labor service – also known, though less widely, as the Horthyliget Internment Camp Memorial. Here, participants also visited the Stigma memorial, created in memory of Vilma Bernovits, also located at Boráros Square, along the Danube.

Dr. Gabriella Dohi, a cultural researcher, introduced the memorial sites and their thematic connection to the evening’s performance. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with the significance of the two memorials and understand their local relevance in relation to László Göndör's artistic work.

The program continued at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, where the audience attended a work-in-progress showing of the second performance in the artistic collaboration between Éva Katona and László Göndör.
Titled Living the Dream with Grandma II: The Lunch, the production is a continuation of the Living the Dream with Grandma theatre project. While the first part focused on the relationship between the director and his grandmother, this second chapter centers on Éva Katona’s personal stories of survival in the 20th century and the transmission of her humanist intellectual legacy.

The piece was a unique documentary-theatre sound performance, processing Éva Katona’s moral and intellectual legacy as a Holocaust survivor through documents from her cohabitation with her grandson, supported by concert-theatre elements. The creators invited the audience to experience the recorded conversation between Göndör and his grandmother, which took place over lunch on 22 December 2020, inside an immersive sound environment composed by Márk Bartha. Following the performance, a collective reflection circle allowed audience members to share their thoughts and feelings with the creators.

The goal of the program was to foster deep reflection, encourage meaningful dialogue, and contribute to the ongoing discourse around Holocaust remembrance both in Hungary and internationally.

Holocaust Memorial Guide
Dr. Gabriella Dohi – Journalist and cultural researcher. She works across all areas of media, creating both moving and still images, writing, and producing radio. She also leads the “Jewish Quarter Through Women's Eyes” walking tour. She holds a PhD from ELTE’s Doctoral School of Film, Media, and Cultural Theory. Her research focuses on (working-class) women and female journalists in the press during the Horthy era. In 2018, she received a special jury prize in the video category of the "Dignified Reporting on Poverty" journalism awards, and in 2020 she won the main prize in the radio/podcast category.

Creative Team of the Performance
Concept: Márk Bartha, Botond Devich, László Göndör, Lili Olga Horváth, Kornél Laboda, Zsuzsi Szakács, Gábor Thury
Director: László Göndör
Musicians: Ramóna Rádli, Gyöngyi Barta, Ádám Baqais, Lilla Michaela Bos – cello
Co-director: Kornél Laboda
Dramaturg: Gábor Thury
Consultant: Lili Olga Horváth
Set Designer: Botond Devich
Composer & Sound Designer: Márk Bartha
Lighting Designer: Ákos "Papa" Lengyel
Cinematographer: Mátyás Gyuricza
Production Assistants: Zsuzsanna Lajkó-Balogh, Zsuzsi Szakács
Creative Producer: Andrea Ausztrics
Producer: Dániel Mayer
Cast: Éva Katona (voice), László Göndör

The event was organised as part of the project "ReActMem: Rescue Memory - Activism, Arts and Public Remembrance", which is being implemented by Marom together with twelve European partners, thanks to funding from the European Union under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme.

Link: Facebook event