Joža Karas, Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian FuksJoza Karas Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian Fuks

Summary

Given the nature of the Nazi extermination programme, the ghetto in the small Czech town of Terezin was a strange creation. It was meant to be a model, ‘humanitarian’ ghetto. Almost 140,000 Jews were placed here, around half of whom came from the Protectorate and the rest from the Reich, Austria and Holland. Seemingly ‘normal’ conditions of life were established, guaranteeing the survival of Jews, ‘half-Jews’ and mixed marriages to the end of the war. The inhabitants of Terezin deluded them seves for some time with this hope of survival and tried to organize their lives to make them as bearable as possible and to maintain not only their physical, but also their psychological health. The fate of the Terezin ghetto is well-known. As a result of daily deteriorating conditions around 30,000 Jews died, and 87,000 were transported to various death camps. Only 17,000 inhabitants of Terezin survived.

One of the aspects of ‘normality’ in Terezin was its musical life. It is to this subject that Jo źa Karas, born in 1926 in Warsaw (of Czech parents) a violinist and writer on music, dedicates his book. He describes the work and activities of musicians thrust into the ghetto. These were people torn suddenly from their normal lives, who tried to continue practising their art, music in all its forms, at all cost. They attempted not only to earn a basic living in an honourable way, but to maintain their professional standards. The ghetto society helped them in this, freeing them from the burden of physical labour. They were valued and appreciated for their music which 'lightened care’, for moments of forgetfulness granted them through listening to the work of classical, romantic and modern composers. They were grateful for the opportunity to listen to both serious and light music. Chamber and orchestral groups composed of experienced musicians from different countries worked here; there was even an opera which staged such works as Mozart's ‘Marriage of Figaro’, ‘The Magic Flute’, Verdi's 'Rigoletto’, Puccini's ‘Tosca’ and Bizet's ‘Carmen’. The organisers of musical life in Terezin also laid great stress on the performance of works composed in the ghetto itself.