The event commemorated the day (October 16, 1941) that the first Nazi transport of Jews set out from the Prague-Bubny Railway Station. The deportations of Prague Jews and the expulsion of Prague Germans after WWII caused the city to lose its traditional identity. Prague lost 50,000 of its residents, who perished. The transports took place while the city kept silent.                

Drumming for Drums in DC was held in solidarity with a special event taking place a day later in Prague at the actual train station from which the transports departed—Prague-Bubny Railway Station. The word “bubny” means “drums” in English. The drumming is a call to action against the silence that oppressed and destroyed many lives. A drumbeat echoes, reverberates, remembering the lives lost and the beating heart of humanity. The event is held to raise awareness and funding for the Memorial of Silence in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Madeleine Albright greeted the audience and gave a symbolic drum beat that led to whole drum circle performing. The Ambassador Gandalovič, as well as the Czechoslovak WWII veteran Frank Becher, the Israeli Embassy representative Ilan Sztulman, and representative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Anatol Steck joined the drumming circle.

The facilitated drumming circle was lead by Kristen Arant, and her team – Hands on Drums Ensemble with Katy Gone, Kewku Ooosu, Ken Quam, joined by members of the Belly Belly Rhythm Collective. Performance of drumming by Batala Washington, Afro-Brazilian all-female group was a special contribution to drumminng against silence.               

Later, Mrs. Albright recorded a video message for Bubnování pro Bubny event in Prague and signed a pair of drumming sticks that the Embassy will present to the Bubny Memorial of Silence as a special gift to commemorate the Drumming for Drums in Washington, DC.         

The Memorial of Silence is a project that will transform the Bubny Railway Station, in Prague, Czech Republic into a center for discussion of "the Shoah in us" as a contemporary stigma. The project is carried out by a non-profit organization Memorial Shoah Prague o.p.s. (Památník šoa Praha, o.p.s.). Its main activities at present include the development of the architectural plans and the creating of the script for a memorial's future permanent exhibition. In addition it organizes exhibitions and events for the general public.   

Drumming for Drums videos