Cultural life of Theresienstadt Ghetto

Theresienstadt was originally designated as a model community for

middle-class Jews from Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.
Many educated Jews were inmates of Theresienstadt. In a
propaganda effort designed to fool the western allies, the Nazis
publicised the camp for its rich cultural life. In reality, according to a
Holocaust survivor, "during the early period there were no [musical]
instruments whatsoever, and the cultural life came to develop itself
only ... when the whole management of Theresienstadt was steered
into an organized course."[1]
Karel Ančerl conducts the
The community in Theresienstadt tried to ensure that all the children Theresienstadt orchestra
who passed through the camp continued with their education. The
Nazis required all camp children over a certain age to work, but
accepted working on stage as employment. The prisoners achieved the children's education under the guise
of work or cultural activity. Daily classes and sports activities were held. The community published a
magazine, Vedem. The history of the magazine was studied and narrated by the Italian writer Matteo
Corradini in his book La repubblica delle farfalle (The Republic of the Butterflies). Sir Ben Kingsley read
that novel, speaking on 27 January 2015 during the ceremony held at Theresienstadt to mark International
Holocaust Memorial Day.

Ilse Weber, a noted Czech Jewish poet, writer and musician for children, was held in the camp from
February 1942, and worked as a night nurse in the camp's children's infirmary. She volunteered to join a
transport of children to Auschwitz in November 1944, where she, her son Tommy, and all the children with
her were murdered in the gas chambers immediately on arrival.

Conductor Rafael Schächter was among those held at the camp, and he formed an adult chorus. He directed
it in a performance of the massive and complex Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. Schächter conducted 15 more
performances of the work before he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.[2]

Violinist Julius Stwertka, a former leading member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and co-leader of the
Vienna Philharmonic, died in the camp on 17 December 1942.

Pianist Alice Herz-Sommer (held with her son, Raphael Sommer) performed 100 concerts while imprisoned
at Theresienstadt. She and Edith Steiner-Kraus, her friend and colleague, both survived the camp, emigrated
to Israel after the war, and became professors of music, Herz-Sommer at the Jerusalem Academy of Music,
and Steiner-Kraus at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music.[3]

Martin Roman and Coco Schumann were part of the jazz band Ghetto Swingers. Artist and art teacher Friedl
Dicker-Brandeis created drawing classes for children in the ghetto, among whom were Hana Brady ("Hana's
suitcase"). They produced more than 4,000 drawings, which she hid in two suitcases before she was
deported to Auschwitz in the final liquidation. The collection was preserved from destruction, and was
discovered a decade later. Most of these drawings can now be seen at the Jewish Museum in Prague, whose
archive of the Holocaust section administers the Terezín Archive Collection. Others are on display at Yad
Vashem in Jerusalem. The children of the camp also wrote stories and poems. Some were preserved and
later published in a collection called I Never Saw Another Butterfly, its title taken from a poem by young
Jewish Czech poet Pavel Friedmann. He had arrived at Terezín on 26 April 1942 and was later murdered at
Auschwitz.
Painter Malva Schalek (Malvina Schalkova) was deported to Theresienstadt in February 1942. She produced
more than 100 drawings and watercolours portraying life in the camp. On 18 May 1944, due to her refusal to
paint the portrait of a collaborationist doctor, she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.[4]

Artist and architect Norbert Troller produced drawings and watercolours of life inside Theresienstadt, to be
smuggled to the outside world. When the Gestapo found out, he was arrested and deported to Auschwitz,
where he was liberated by the Russians in 1945. His memoirs and two dozen of his artworks were published
in 1991.[5]

Composer Viktor Ullmann was interned in September 1942, and died at Auschwitz in October 1944. He
composed some twenty works at Theresienstadt, including the one-act opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The
Emperor of Atlantis or The Refusal of Death). It was planned for performance at the camp, but the Nazis
withdrew permission when it was in rehearsal, probably because the authorities perceived its allegorical
intent. The opera was first performed in 1975, and shown in full on BBC television in Britain. It continues to
be performed.

Music composed by inmates is featured in Terezín: The Music 1941–44, a two-CD set released in 1991.[6][7]
The collection features music composed mostly in 1943 and 1944 by Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans
Krása, and Viktor Ullmann while interned at Theresienstadt. Haas, Krása, and Ullmann died in Auschwitz
concentration camp in 1944, and Klein died in Fürstengrube in 1945.[8]

In 2007, the album Terezín – Theresienstadt of music composed at Theresienstadt was released by the
Swedish singer Anne Sofie von Otter, assisted by baritone Christian Gerhaher, pianists, and chamber
musicians. In 2008, Bridge Records released a recital by Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and
American pianist Russell Ryan that drew on a different selection of songs.

Culture as Survival

Scholars have interpreted acts of cultural expression through theater, music, and art in Theresienstadt as a
strategy for survival by those deported there. The ghetto became the site of a wide variety of works of art
using different artistic mediums, from lectures to drawings, and devoted to a variety of themes.[9] At first,
cultural activities were suppressed by the Nazis, but when the function of the ghetto as a model became
clearer in 1942, these activities were deemed acceptable.[10] The Nazis decided that Theresienstadt could
function uniquely as a place to deport member of Europe’s cultural elite.[11] At this time the
Freizeitgestaltung (Association of Free Time Activities) was established, and cultural activities were
allowed by the Nazis. However, instruments had previously been smuggled into Theresienstadt since 1941,
and many artists considered them to be among their most basic needs.[12] Children in the ghetto expressed
themselves and their reactions to their circumstances through drawings in the lessons permitted by the
Nazis.[10] With these outlets, the people attempted to create a sense of hope within the ghetto.[13]

In Theresienstadt, cultural production thrived much more than in the Protectorate. Art in the ghetto
underwent drastic development as it allowed for depiction and representation of true life in
Theresienstadt.[10] The artwork provided the people with an artistic outlet through which they could express
their feelings of defiance.[14] Despite constant deportations of inmates to the East, the ghetto inhabitants
remained determined to continue performing and creating. Places in casts often needed to be reassigned as
participants were deported.[10] The people remained strong willed in their persistence to create, as it helped
them remain hopeful and live a more humane existence.[10] Rafael Schachter was one of the pioneering
members of cultural activity in Theresienstadt. In the early days of Theresienstadt’s cultural activity,
Schachter included a satirical sketch in his first performance.[15] Later in his time in Theresienstadt,
Schachter put together a rendition of Verdi’s Requiem. In this version of Requiem, Schachter changed the
ending notes to communicate a resistance signal. Adolf Eichmann and other important Nazi leaders were in
the audience for a performance of Schachter’s Requiem, and Eichmann specifically enjoyed this version of
the piece.[16] The Nazi’s didn't understand the underlying meanings of the change to Requiem or many other
works performed in the ghetto.[17]

On September 23, 1943, the first performance of the children’s show Brundibar appeared in Theresienstadt.
The show was performed fifty five times, and was the most successful show of all of the productions ever
performed in the ghetto. Cast members were replaced as they were deported, but the show's main acts
remained the same throughout the duration of the performances.[18] Brundibar’s original composer Hans
Krasa composed a new score for the show in Theresienstadt as the original score had been lost, and the show
was put together by Rudolf Freudenfeld under the supervision and tutelage of Rafael Schachter.[19] For the
Theresienstadt performances of the show, poet Emil A. Saudek changed the ending lines from the original
version to emphasize a political meaning behind the show. It was clear to the audience that the show’s main
antagonist represented Hitler, but the Nazi’s themselves did not realize the hidden meaning in Brundibar,
and even had the show presented during a visit by the Red Cross.[20] Brudibar was the top musical
performance ever performed at Theresienstadt.[21]

Emperor of Atlantis was another opera produced in Theresienstadt. The opera was created by Peter Kien and
Viktor Ullmann, who created the opera in the form of a legend so that they could include hidden meaning
that would be missed by the Nazi’s.[22] Ullman strategically used music to include undertones with
resistance implications, including artistic manipulation of Deutchland Uber Alles, and a secondary version
of sheet music, with less direct implications than the version that was actually rehearsed, was handed over to
the Nazi.[23] Ultimately, Emperor of Atlantis was never performed at Theresienstadt, although scholars differ
on their reasoning as to why the opera never reached performance. The show may have ended before being
performed because the Nazi’s in control of the ghetto saw the allegorical connection to Hitler and Nazi
Germany in the opera’s plot line.[24] Alternatively, some scholars say the show never reached performance
because of deportation to Auschwitz.[25]

Scholar’s views vary on Nazi reaction to the production of Theresienstadt’s cultural works. Some say the
Nazis remained indifferent to the work that was composed and sung inside the ghetto.[10] Others say that the
Nazis encouraged the artistic production, as the SS thought that nothing from Theresienstadt would ever
reach outside of the ghetto.[26]

References
1. "David P. Boder Interviews Friedrich Schlaefrig" (http://voices.iit.edu/interview?doc=schlaefrigF
&display=schlaefrigF_en). Voices of the Holocaust. Paris, France. August 23, 1946. Retrieved
21 May 2016.
2. Bret McCabe (Winter 2012). "May it go to the heart" (http://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2012/winter/
may-it-go-to-heart). Johns Hopkins Magazine. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
3. Berkley, George E. (2002). Hitler's Gift: Story of Theresienstadt. p. 262. ISBN 978-
0828320641.
4. Schalek, Malva. "Theresienstadt pictures" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100612231121/htt
p://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~catherine.stodolsky/malva/thstd/pix.html). Archived from the
original (http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~catherine.stodolsky/malva/thstd/pix.html) on 12 June
2010. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
5. Troller, Norbert (1991). Theresienstadt: Hitler's gift to the Jews. University of North Carolina
Press.
6. Campbell, R.M. (11 November 1999). "Holocaust Musicians Left Powerful Legacy" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20121102141510/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-64111685.html).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle, WA. Archived from the original (http://www.highbeam.com/d
oc/1G1-64111685.html) on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
 7. Stearns, David Patrick (28 January 1995). "Testament of Terezín" (https://web.archive.org/web/
20121102141502/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4697092.html). The Independent.
London, UK. Archived from the original (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4697092.html) on
2 November 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
8. "Terezín – The Music 1941–44" (https://archive.today/20120707052340/http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Pro
ductinformation/Terez_iacute_n_The_Music_1941_44__6161678). Ciao. Archived from the
original (http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Productinformation/Terez_iacute_n_The_Music_1941_44__61616
78) on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
9. Blodig, Vojtech & White, Joseph Robert (2012). "Terezin" (https://www.ushmm.org/online/camp
s-ghettos-download/USHMM_Vol%202_PartA.pdf) (PDF). In Geoffrey P. Megargee; Martin
Dean & Mel Hecker (eds.). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum encyclopedia of
camps and ghettos, 1933–1945 (https://www.ushmm.org/research/publications/encyclopedia-c
amps-ghettos/volumes-i-and-ii-available-online). Vol. II, Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern
Europe. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 180–184. ISBN 978-0-253-35599-7.
Retrieved 2018-05-19.
10. Chladkova, Ludmila (2005). The Terezín Ghetto. Památnik Terazin. pp. 29–30.
ISBN 8086758192. OCLC 62324320 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62324320).
11. Rovit & Goldfarb, p. 172.
12. Karas (1985), pp. 13-15.
13. Rovit & Goldfarb, p. 173.
14. Karas (1985), p. 18.
15. Karas (1985), pp. 11-14.
16. Kramer (1998), p. 17.
17. Kramer (1998), p. 21.
18. Karas (1985), p. 100.
19. Rovit & Goldfarb, pp. 193-194.
20. Rovit & Goldfarb, pp. 197-198.
21. Karas (1985), p. 102.
22. Kramer (1998), p. 19.
23. Kramer (1998), pp. 20-21.
24. Kramer (1998), p. 22.
25. Karas (1985), p. 35.
26. Kramer (1998), pp. 15 & 17.

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