rudolf vrba jury

One World is unique because it is not only interested in introducing new and inspirational films, but is also a festival dedicated to freedom, justice, and human dignity. In addition to filmmakers and film professionals, One World invites extraordinary personalities, the people that could themselves be the heroes of human rights documentaries. Members of the Rudolf Vrba Jury are such people - charismatic and brave individuals who dare to be outspoken and active on behalf of freedom, democracy, truth, justice, equal rights and dignity -in most cases at great personal risk. By inviting these inspiring people to Prague, One World gives audiences the opportunity to meet and talk with people who have first-hand experience of some of the greatest challenges facing the world today. To date 2005 jury members include: social field-worker Jarmila Kuchárová (Czech Republic), human rights activist Gheorghe Briceag (Moldova), political activist Mirvari Gahramanova (Azerbaijan), Hanna Khodas (All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH) and chair of human rights center Viasna Ales Bialiatski (Belarus).

Jarmila Kuchárová (Czech Republic)

Jarmila Kuchárová

Jarmila Kuchárová was born in 1957 in Nový Jičín in Moravia and comes from a family of Slovak Roma. At the age of 41 she decided to begin her studies and in 2003 successfully graduated from the Evangelical Academy in Prague, in the Department of Social Law. For several years she has worked as a field social worker for the non-profit organization, People in Need. "My current profession is a dream come true. I always hoped to help people who found themselves for whatever reason on the edge of hopelessness. As a reward for this work I have new experience, which definitely motivates me, but primarily the joy from work is when we are successful in getting our clients back to "life" and thanks to this it is possible that they can get their children back from an institution." In the future she would like to continue to contribute to improving the life situation and integration of the Roma in the local community. She lives and works in Chomutov.

 

Ales Bialacki (Belarus)

Ales Bialacki

A representative of the Belarus opposition, Aleš Bialacký comes from the village of Vjatsilja (Karelia, Russia). After his studies he worked as a scholar in the area of Belorussian literature. He is a member of the Belorussian Writers Union and one of the founders of the Association of Young Writers Tutejshyja, serving as its president from 1986-9. Since the eighties he has been actively engaged in politics: he was an organizer of the memorial campaign Dziady in Kuropaty near Minsk, where from 1937 – 1941 individuals deemed troublesome to Stalin's Regime were shot to death and buried. He co-founded the Human Rights Center Viasna, and is currently its chairman. After two years Viasna was officially dissolved, forcing it to now operate illegally. Ales Bialacki has been tried and sentenced several times for organizing protest events against the Lukashenko regime.

 

Gheorghe Briceag (Moldova)

Gheorghe Briceag

Moldovan Gheorghe Briceag spent ten years in the Gulag and seven years in exile. After being granted his freedom he studied law and today visits the courts to help his fellow citizens in various conflicts with the Moldovan government and its bureaucrats. In addition to this he also tries to assist his former fellow prisoners. In recent years he was able to prevent the city council from renewing a statue of Lenin in the center of Belci. In Belci, a city located to the north of Kishniev, where the pro-Russian oriented Communists have a strong position, Gheorghe Briceag is considered a symbol that helps to influence the convictions of the public in the democratic spirit. The Board of Directors of People in Need presented Gheorghe Briceag with the Homo Homini Award for 2004. This award is presented each year to individuals who have stood in a significant way for the defense of human rights.

 

Mirvari Gehramanli (Azerbaijan)

Mirvari Gehramanliová

Mirvari Gehramanli completed her studies at the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemical Institute and for 25 years has worked in the oil industry. In 1996 she co-founded the Oil Workers Rights Protection Committee, and has served as its Director. The OWRPC has fought against corruption and bribery in the oil industry and carries out public supervision over oil projects in her country. It also organizes a Commission of educational projects for the employees of the oil companies and offers legal advice. Mirvari Gehramanli, in addition to participating in conferences about the oil industry, has also participated in a number of seminars and conferences concerning women's rights.

 

Hanna Khodas (Ukraine)

Hanna Khodasová

Hanna Khodas has worked in the non-profit sector since 1997. She first worked in the Counterpart Alliance for Partnership as an advisor, and since the founding of the All-Ukrainian Network of People living with HIV (PLWH) in 2003, has served as its Program Director. The All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH struggles for a dignified life for people infected with HIV/AIDS and provides them with psychological, social, advisory and legal assistance. The organization covers eighteen regions in the Ukraine and serves 13 thousand infected clients.

 

Rudolf Vrba

Rudolf Vrba

Rudolf Vrba is a person of exceptional strength and courage. He was born Walter Rosenberg in Topoľčany in Slovakia. At the age of 18, he was arrested by the Nazis and spent two years at Majdanek and Auschwitz concentration camps in Poland. In 1944 he escaped from Auschwitz together with his fellow prisoner Alfred Wetzler. Immediately after their escape, while still in hiding, they wrote down a detailed testimony of the mass extermination of people in the camps. Their report belongs to the fundamental documents of World War II and is kept today in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in New York, in the Vatican archives, and at the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem.
In autumn 1944 Walter Rosenberg joined a partisan guerilla unit and, under the code name Rudolf Vrba, fought against the Nazis until the liberation. After the war he studied chemistry at the Prague Technical University. He worked as a scientist and a university professor, writing more than fifty scientific books and articles. He also lectured and wrote several books about the Holocaust. He appeared as a witness at the trials of Nazi criminals and his wartime experience has been recorded in several documentaries, including Claude Lanzmann's legendary Shoah. He described his wartime story in his own words in his book Escape from Auschwitz. It is the tale of a man who is able to confront his destiny under any circumstances, however hopeless they may seem. "Evil is committed by those who yield to evil in any way: whether actively or passively, whether as an instrument, an observer, or a victim. Under certain circumstances even ignorance is evil." – This is the message of an indomitable man, Rudolf Vrba.