History goes through the stomach

Lecture series on civil courage “Resistance and Solidarity”.

With films, discussion evenings, and lectures focusing on forms of resistance against injustice and on acts of solidarity, the initiative “Eyes open against anti-Semitism and other forms of group-related inhumanity” from the Local Alliance for Family e.V. aims to provide encouragement for the questions of our time.

The “Head Cooks” of Ravensbrück.

For the Luxembourg resistance fighter and later Michelin star chef Helene Hiertz (1911–1985), collecting recipes and cooking played a significant role throughout her life. After the occupation of Luxembourg, she provided refractories with food, thereby saving their lives. In 1944, she was arrested and deported to the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück, where hunger, disease, and violence dominated daily life.

Despite these life-threatening conditions, women like Hiertz maintained their dignity by discussing recipes, writing them down, and cooking them in their imagination – as a form of self-assertion that gave them strength. Hiertz was able to survive the Ravensbrück camp, also thanks to the mutual solidarity among her comrades. After her return, she opened a restaurant in Diekirch that in 1958 became the first Luxembourg establishment to receive a Michelin star, and later even two.

Dr. Kathrin Mess will present her life story and the Ravensbrück recipe collection; afterwards, tastings of these recipes will be offered.

Tickets are available in advance for €15.00 at www.kulturgiesserei-saarburg.de/shop and at the box office on the evening!