In 2017, the Kryly Khalopa Theatre presented the first performance - audio tour from the Brest Stories Guide series about the Brest Ghetto. In 2025, we released the second audio performance — Brest HERstory — about the women's history of Brest during World War II.
Brest HERstory offers a perspective on historical events through the lives and activities of women. The sources include archival materials and photographs, published texts and testimonies, diaries, and interviews. The project includes an audio performance and a map with information about city landmarks related to our heroines, as well as about themselves. For voice acting, we invited women and girls from Brest.

The Brest HERstory route is thematically and chronologically divided into five parts. The research begins in 1939, describing how the situation in Brest changed with the arrival of Soviet and German authorities. The second part describes events related to Stalinist repressions and deportations from 1939 to 1941 — stories of women who endured prisons and camps. The third part, "Fights at the Fortress," relates to June 1941 and depicts women's participation in the battles for Brest Fortress. The fourth route narrates the creation and destruction of the Jewish ghetto in Brest during 1941–1942, as well as women who worked as couriers between Jewish ghettos. The final part — "Occupation, Resistance" — covers the period from 1941 to the present day and tells about women in Brest's communist underground resistance, caregiving and survival practices, women - Ostarbeiters, and what women faced after the war.

Our work is based on the belief that the past determines the present and future. We aim to move away from a memory politics that only speaks of heroes and emphasizes battles and victories. In Brest HERstory, we seek another story — not one of heroism or great battles but of selfless care and saving children, friends, and others; not stories of men's companions but of strong, independent individuals. Through this project, we give voice to those who are unheard and make visible those who are usually invisible.

Idea: Aksana Haiko
Team: Aksana Haiko, Alina Dzeravianka, Sviatlana Haidalionak
Sound engineer: Andrey Vozdukhov

The project is available in:
Russian: https://izi.travel/ru/ac82-kryly-khalopa-theatre/ru
Belarusian: https://izi.travel/en/ac82-kryly-khalopa-theatre/be