The “Brundibár” Project: Memorializing Theresienstadt Children’S Opera

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The “Brundibár” Project: Memorializing Theresienstadt Children’s Opera

by Rebecca Rovit

2000

This is the published version of the article, made available with the permission of the publisher. The original published version can be found at the link below.

Rebecca Rovit. (2000). The “Brundibár” Project: Memorializing Theresienstadt Children’s Opera. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 22(2):111-122.

Published version: http://www.dx.doi.org/10.2307/3245896

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The "Brundibár" Project: Memorializing Theresienstadt Children's Opera Author(s): Rebecca Rovit Source: PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Vol. 22, No. 2, Berlin 2000 (May, 2000), pp. 111-122 Published by: Performing Arts Journal, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3245896 . Accessed: 16/07/2014 14:04

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE BRUNDIBARPROJECT MemorializingTheresienstadt Children'sOpera

RebeccaRovit

CHORUS: You have to count on friendship,go the way together,to trust in yourstrength (Music) and to standby one another.Then people willlook at you, call you smartand cleverbecause nothingcan (Music) separate you. We defeatedBrundibair, and now it is clearto all; no one can separate us. (Music.)'

wordscome fromthe triumphantfinale of Hans Krisa's children's Theseopera, Brundibdr. The opera,written and composedin 1938 in Prague,was also performedthere by boys in an orphanageduring the winterof 1942. Rehearsalshad barelybegun when the opera's conductor,Rudolf Schaichter,was transportedto the Nazi's model ghettoin CentralBohemia, Terezin, also knownas Theresienstadt.Krnisa, the architect Frantisek Zelenka, some of theoriginal cast, the orphanagedirector Moritz Freudenfeld,and his son, Rudolf,arrived in Terezinon severaltransports between April and July,1943. In September1943, Schaichter initiateda Terezinproduction of Brundibdrdirected by RudolfFreudenfeld, who had directedthe orphanageperformance and broughtthe vocal scoreto the ghetto. Zelenka once moredesigned a stageset for the inmate boys and girlswho sang to the accompanimentof a harmonium.The followingyear, Kr isa rewrotethe operascore to includea varietyof musicalinstruments in whathas been describedas a "virtuoso ensemble"orchestra.2

The Czech-languageopera playedfifty-five times as part of the ghetto'sorganized "leisure time activity"or Freizeitgestaltung.Eventually, the Nazis exploited the popular opera by stage-managingits productionsfor an InternationalRed Cross visitto Terezinin Juneand a bogus propagandafilm in the fallof 1944, Der Fiihrer schenktden Juden eine Stadt. But the simpletale of the victoryof the innocentover evil may have providedTerezin audiences with an allegoryfor theirsituation. A brotherand sistersing for money so that theycan buy freshmilk for theirsick mother.With the help of singinganimals, they recover their stolen money from the nastyorgan-grinder, Brundibair. Existing production photos from Terezin show the boy in the role of Brundibairwearing a Hitlermustache.

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Fifty-sixyears later, the lyrics from this same story and itsfinale are being sung all over Germany.From Giessen to Mbinchengladbach,in Berlinand Erlangen auditoriums,in Wittlich'sold synagogue,German school children and teenagers havebeen performing Brundibdr in memoryof the Theresienstadt players. Last year, overseven hundred groups and institutionsproduced one hundredand thirty performancesofthe opera. For 2000, manymore productions have been scheduled by musicschools, church youth groups, and highschools, with the supportof Germany'sJewish community. The Germandelegation of an internationalcultural youthorganization, Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland, established the performance projectin 1995. The ensemblessee theirambitious plan as a pedagogicalstrategy. One of theirgoals is to uniteinternational youth through music to "contributeto understandingamong countries."3 The Germanbranch is particularlysensitive to "recentsocio-political developments," such as xenophobia.

The Brundibdrproject belongs to what may be a nationalobsession: how to cometo termswith the Holocaust and transmit the memory for future generations. Attempts to memorializethe Holocaustare takingplace in Germanyon severallevels of society.On thefederal level, cultural and politicalleaders have been embroiled in a noisycontroversy about Germany'spast and Germanmemory. The designand constructionofa Holocaustmemorial for Berlin lies at thecore of this controversy. Meanwhile,locally, the nation-wide phenomenon of touringBrundibdr perform- ancesto Germancommunities suggests a needby teachers and communityleaders to guidethe "innocent" generation of German youth in acknowledgingpublicly the systematicmurder of millionsof Jews. As ChancellorGerhard Schrdder leads the countryinto the twenty-first century, Germans still wrestle with their tainted past, ambivalentabout the degree to whichthey are accountable to theircountry's Third Reichhistory and responsiblefor its future.Even while Germany reinforces its allianceswith its neighbors and embracesideas of a multiculturalsociety, its citizens seem unable to decide how to commemoratethe specterof Auschwitz.The hesitancywith which leadersdebate the Holocaust memorial-itsshape, its funding,even its site-and the waveringresponse to the Brundibdrproject demonstratesthe differingviewpoints of Germanson the Holocaustand the explosivetopic of what Auschwitz means to Germany'syoung and old.

The still-unbuiltBerlin memorial and the Brundibdrperformance project-as- memorialrepresent powerful efforts by Germans to remembertheir past. It is useful to considerthe atmosphere in whichthese types of remembranceare developing. Disagreementsamong culturalleaders in Germany,for example,provoked a lingeringpublic debate on theHolocaust and Germany's legacy, suggesting the need to developa "language"to discussthe German past without misunderstanding. It remainsto be seen what kind of "language"may develop. Given the war of words waged in 1998 and 1999 by two prominentspokespeople in Germany,this language mightbe best expressed,however, in a non-verbalform, as in a memorial,perhaps, or throughmusic recoveredfrom the Holocaust. The disputelast yearbetween the late Ignatz Bubis, the formerpresident of the Jewishcommunity in Germany,and Martin Walser,a respectedpost-war writer, demonstrated that issues of memory,

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions atonement,and Germany'sfuture will dominate the cultural agenda well into this newcentury.

It was actuallythe yet undefinedand emptyspace reservedfor the Holocaust memorial-severalfootball fields wide near Berlin'sBrandenburg Gate-that provokedWalser's criticism and spurreda feuilletondebate that months later still demandsresolution.4 As he acceptedthe 1998 Peace Prizefor Literature at the FrankfurtBook Fair,Walser referred to the "instrumentalizationof Auschwitz," executedwith a "moralcudgel" (Moralkeule). He claimedthat "instead of being gratefulfor the "unceasing presentation ofour [German] shame," he was "beginning to lookaway." This incited Bubis to respondpublicly as he spokein memoryof the November1938 pogroms,charging Walser with "intellectual arson" for suggesting the need to "look away"from the Holocaustby the majorityof non-Jewish Germans.The debategained in fervordaily, then weekly, while other leaders sought to diffusethe angry tone among Germany's intelligentsia. ByDecember 1998, Bubis hadpronounced Walser a latentanti-semite. And the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung arrangedfor a meetingbetween Bubis and Walser to reconciletheir feelings publicly, whileseeking clarity and understanding.5Such attemptsat publicreconciliation regardingGermany's wartime infractions are whatprompted the idea to builda memorialto theHolocaust in Berlin.

Over the past ten years,cultural boards, politicians, and juriesdiscussed and acceptedan architecturaldesign for a Holocaustmemorial in Berlin.The founda- tion stonewas to be laid on January27, 1999, Germany'sofficial "Holocaust RemembranceDay." But thisritual was delayedby a yearand uncertaintystill prevailsabout its actualform. Only recentlydid the chosenAmerican architect, PeterEisenman, negotiate the ultimate dimensions for his much-criticized 4.9 acre fieldof approximately two thousand seven hundred concrete pillars. Over the past yearand a half,government officials, including the CulturalMinister, Michael Naumann,developed variations of Eisenman'sarchitectural proposal: Eisenman I (or "pureEisenman"), Eisenman II, III, and IV. LastJune, the German parliament approved"Eisenman II," basedon thearchitect's original model minus some pillars butincluding an exhibitionspace. Naumann has reiteratedthat the memorial will serveas a "genocidewatch" institute to house permanent exhibitions.6 Even after the vote,however, continued opposition to thememorial and thepotential contents of its"learning space" have complicated the quest for action in thisnew century.7

Designinga memorialis a littlelike staging a theatrescript or librettoin thatone mustconsider issues of artisticrepresentation, catharsis, and reception.Can or shouldart be usedto representthe enormity of the Auschwitz atrocity? Are not the concentrationcamps on Berlin'soutskirts enough to remindus of the horrorsof Hitler's regimewithout an abstractmonument, chosen in part for its aesthetic attributes?Can a visitor'ssilence and interactionwith a field of cold stone and narrow space elicit a physically"direct experiencewith remembrance"of the victims?8Finally, is Eisenman'splan simply " a monumentalizationof German

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions shame,"as Walseroriginally claimed'? Or a potentialmeeting place for the homeless, neo-Nazis,and graffitiartists?

Andwhat of Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlinthat opened in thespring of 1999?The architecturalwonder, shaped like a stretched-outbroken Star of David, housesa Holocausttower and a memorialgarden atop slantedpillars, vaguelyreminiscent ofEisenman's proposed pillars. The museum'ssloping basement floorsand ceilings,its slivered windows, and its complex system of voids and empty axesevoke feelings of confusion,echoing the paucity of Jewish life in Berlin.The exhibitionhalls remain empty in thebuilding, already touted as a memorialto the murderedJews. The CentrumJudaica Museum in theold synagogueon Oranien- burgerStrasse, the "Topography of Terror" site on topof the former headquarters of theGestapo, and the Wannsee Villa Museum are also powerful places from which to contemplateHitler's regime of terror.Yet German politicians have focused on the vacantspace near the Brandenburg Gate, awaiting the construction of a memorial somehowcapable of recallingthe victims' plight while assuaging German guilt- integratinghistory with the present to movetowards the future.

Thisgovernment's commitment to builda memorialseems rooted in an urgencynot onlyto exonerateGermany of an onerouspast, but to effectremembrance in those generationswhose consciences are clearvis-a-vis the Third Reich.9 It is perhaps fitting,then, that young Germansof the Brundibdrproject-in Berlinand elsewhere-areusing theatrical performance and the Holocaust to re-enactan opera whichwas performedduring the Holocaust by young Jews. Issues of memoryand moralitylink Berlin'sempty space with the re-enactmentby youthgroups of Brundibdr.The anticipatedmonument and performancesof Brundibdrrely on differentmodes of presentationto rememberthe victimsof the Holocaust. Accordingto Eisenman,the memorial's "non-representational, non-symbolic" struc- turewould elicit the question, "why" the Holocaust could happen.'1 The Brundibdr experimentwould ideallyuse the actualmusic and storyperformed during the Holocaustto provokereflection among participants and audiences about the victims who once sangand watchedthe original production. At thesame time, it could promoteempathy by celebratingsolidarity and thelife spirit that co-existed with eastern-boundtransports to Auschwitzfrom Terezin.

A premiereproduction of Brundibdron January27, 1999, in Berlin,however, exemplifiesthe ambivalence of some government leaders towards the project, paying merely"lip service"to a good cause;namely, the Holocaust, but not paying for it. The productionalso demonstratesthe difficultyin preservingthe opera in its simplicitywithout grafting onto thestory a lessonin politicsfor the 1990s. On openingnight in the restoredSchauspielhaus concert hall at the Gendarmenmarkt, fiftychildren from Berlin East and West (a deliberatelychosen multiculturalcast) and an orchestrare-enacted Hans Krisa'soptimistic fairytale. The productionteam added a musical memorialas prelude with quotations fromKrisa and froma Theresienstadtsurvivor (and originalcast member), emphasizing an ambienceheavy

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions withhistorical hindsight. "In thesetimes of skinheads and militaryboots, we were ableto teachthe kids a lot aboutpower, violence, and ideology,"director Matthias Diem tolda reporterabout the rehearsal process." In theopera, the two children relyon thehelp of some animals and school children (and their voices) to overcome Brundibair.Instead of presenting children still innocent in theirbelief of justice and pure in theirdreams of ice creamand freshfruit, the 1999 Berlinproduction depicteda milieuin whichchildren clad in grayunderwear sifted through a mountainof clothing for costumes.12 The directorhad originallyplanned to throw morethan 4000 squarefeet of netting over the audience, replace Brundibair's hurdy- gurdywith an enormousGoebbels-style radio, and havethe children plant a birch treeonstage in a moundof peat. But by Christmas 1998, it was evident that Diem's productionteam would not have enough money to realizesuch stage effects.

In fact,the directorial decision to use scenographiceffects as a commentaryon the past was overshadowedby the ultimatecynicism wrought by Berlinleaders. Althoughthe Berlin Senate had pledged in 1999,the year of children, to sponsorthe BerlinBrundibdr, the fundswere not transferredfor production costs. Other financialcommitments were either withdrawn or greatlyreduced; one coalitionof banksand insurancecompanies cut theirassured 100,000 marks by 70,000,and thenpaid nothing.13 After last minute fundraising among the children's families and privateentrepreneurs, thefull orchestra played as planned,but the director's concept had to be revisedaccording to themodest budget allotted the production. The idea to commemoratethe past by performing a cultural relic from within the Holocaust initiallyreceived great praise and eagersponsors. But a lackof capital prevented the fullpotential of a theatricalproduction whose performance history stems from the Holocaustitself.

The complexhistory of Brundibdrand its role in Theresienstadt'sorganized Freizeitgestaltung,make it especiallysusceptible to the criticismthat art created withinthe Holocaust was coercedand worthless.This criticismmay promote the misconceptionthat the Brundibdrproject belongs to the so-called"Holocaust industry,"a term attributed to therash of Holocaust-related events peripheral to the Berlinmemorial debate, such as million-dollarlegal suitsfor surviving Jewish victimsand forcedlaborers from the war. One maywonder why young Germans and theirteachers would stage a musicalplay dedicated to deadchildren, especially as mostof the original Brundibdr players were doomed.

JeunessesMusicales Deutschland, however, has investedfive years to createa networkof institutionsextending to theCzech Republic and Polandprecisely to preventmisconceptions. The Brundibdrexperience appears to provideyoung actors and their audiences with a palpable means-music and theatrehistory of the Holocaust-through whichto come to termswith their countries' national legacies, complicityin WorldWar II, and the erectionof ghettosand camps acrossEurope. During preparationfor the productions,the intergenerationalproject included invitedeyewitnesses who explainedtheir past to theactors, a compactdisc of Krisa's opera music, a video with interviewsfrom survivingperformers, and clips of

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Brundibdrperformance, Theresienstadt, June 1944, as seen in the filmDer Fiihrerschenkt demJuden eine Stadt.Photo: CourtesyJewish Museum, Prague.

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brundibdrperformances. Finally, teachers and theirstudents received research materialsabout Nazi Germany,Terezin, and the ghetto'scultural programs. In studyingthe opera'sbackground and enactingthe roles fromlibrettist Adolf Hoffmeister'sallegorical Brundibdr, then, these youth groups tackled their own relationshipto theirancestry, while conveying the optimisticmessage of those fictionalchildren in theopera who togetherdefeat Brundibair.'4

Althoughthe young Germans of the Brundibdr project would seem to havechosen a legitimatemethod to preserveand transfermemory, musical theatre is nota form thatone can morallyjustify when discussing Holocaust remembrance. It is still taboo-ladento speakof creativeart from within the Holocaust.When recurrent criticismfocuses on the"instrumentalization" ofAuschwitz in thememorial debate forpolitical and evencultural purposes, what criticism may await enthusiasts of the Brundibdrproject or similarattempts to revivethe creativeattempts from the Holocaust?It maybe difficultto imaginethat inmates at Terezin,in labor,or concentrationcamps could summon the strength to performanything other than workdetails for their Commandant. But VictorUllmann, one of Krisa'sfellow composersand inmatesat Terezin, evidently likened the will to createwith the will to live.'5Ullmann, like Krisa, participated in theFreizeitgestaltung. He composed an operain the ghetto,The Emperor of Atlantis. The opera'sallegorical plot was so obviouslya commentaryon a dictator'sdemise that the ghetto'sJewish Elders bannedthe premiereafter the dressrehearsal. Ullmann died at Auschwitz.But remnantsof his workfrom Terezin survive along with Krnisa's music. These relics fromhellish times can be as soberinga reminderof theHolocaust as can abstract stonestructures.

Controversymay mar attempts to recordthe fleeting sparks of cultural life amid the overwhelmingdeath of theHolocaust years, 1933-1945. These performances and creationsare nonethelesspart of the same historyencapsulated in the existing memorials,museums, and maps commemoratingthe devastationwrought by Hitler'sregime. As thesixtieth anniversary ofthe onset of World War II in Europe nears,some of thoseartists who createdtheatrical art in campsand ghettoslike Terezinhave re-emphasizedthe role of culturalactivity from the Holocaustin bringingBrundibdr back on stage.The presenceand thetestimony of eyewitnesses mayreinforce a significant area of theHolocaust that has beengreatly neglected. Our intractablehindsight may prevent us fromaccepting morally the factthat inmatesen routeto placeslike Terezifn or Auschwitz,for example, watched cabaret performancesatWesterbork while in transitthere. Many of the actors and musicians ofTerezin and Westerborkdid notknow what was aheadfor many of them;they livedeach day for what it was.We havethe hindsight to knowwhat happened to inmates destined for Auschwitz. But may we not also try to understandthe complexityof human beings?

In thisnew millenniumindividuals and internationalcommunities seek some sense of closureto the political,social, and culturalproblems established by the Shoah; survivorsare able to testifyabout theirwartime experiences in hiding,in ghettos,

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions and in camps.The internationalHolocaust conference in Washington,D.C. in December1999 at theU.S. HolocaustMemorial Museum emphasized this point as discussionabout reparations for sufferers and thereturn of Jewish assets prevailed. Delegatesalso stressed the need to openall Holocaust-relatedarchives to thepublic bythe year 2000. Thesepreparations-and deadlines-may provide future genera- tionswith new opportunitiesto learnabout the Holocaust. Sophisticated educa- tionalresources and software programs are already available for high school students. In themeantime, directors of emergingHolocaust Studies training centers grapple withhow to teachabout genocide-a topic also featuredat the international conferenceon theHolocaust this past January in Stockholm.

Perhapsthe newest area in documentingthe Holocaust complex is therecording of artcreated and performedby artists-Jews and non-Jewsalike-who wereimpris- oned withinthe ghettosand concentrationcamps. Researchabout aspectsof culturallife from the Holocaust,like Kraisa's Brundibdr, is onlyslowly becoming legitimizedas a way to memorializethe past.The Berlinale1999 filmfestival featureda documentary on thecabarettist Kurt Gerron and his life at Theresienstadt, KurtGerrons Karussell, while a newdocumentary on thelife of jazz musician,Coco Schumann,of Theresienstadt's "Ghetto Swingers" is in progress.'6In GreatBritain and the UnitedStates, several exhibitions of art-workcreated within camps like Terezinand Auschwitzare in theplanning stages." With the opening of archives dedicatedto theHolocaust, especially in EasternEurope, resources-although far fromcomplete-may allow for the further documentation ofthe visual art and even theatricalart and performanceonce createdwithin the camps.Diaries recently bequeathedto suchinstitutes as London'sWiener Library provide new information intoTerezin's Freizeitgestaltung.18 Thisemerging trend in revealinguntapped sources supportsa positivedirection of scholarshipin whichfragments of theHolocaust's culturallegacy may be memorialized.

It seemsto me thatthis is whatthe Brundibdr project across Germany is already accomplishing.The opera'slyrics reveal a senseof optimism and survival.In a coda priorto theopera's finale, the children's narrative chorus sings of thefuture: "New luckbegins, though, even when time passes by; in mycradle your grand-child will soondream.""'9 One mayignore the message behind these words to thinkbitterly of thedoomed Brundibdr actors at Terezin who innocently sang of a futuregeneration thatwas neverborn. From all accountsof survivorswho performedor watched Brundibdragain and again at Terezifn, however, the opera apparently embodied hope forthe futureand joy in the musicand its message.Surviving members of the orchestralike Paul Aron Sandfort and ThomasMandl, for example, look backto stressthe positiveinfluence and meaningof the performancefor the children. Mandl saysthat this proves what one can do in difficulttimes "when one is able to thinkabout somethingother than the nextbite of bread.And simplythrough the power and genialityof this music, Brundibdrhad a hearteningeffect on the children."20

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions AndreaKornath, a dedicatedmusic teacher, has shepherdedteenage ensembles of modern-dayAninkas and Pepicekssince 1997 acrossstages of small-town auditoriums in Germany.She emphasizesthe power and the accessibilityof Brundibdr's musicfor today's young actors and theiraudiences. Her goal is not to use this keepsakefrom the Holocaustto reinforcea politicallesson in combatingneo- Nazism.Emphasizing the horrorsof the Holocaustover the opera'smusic, she believes,is noteffective pedagogically. Instead, Konrath encourages her students to listento and understandthe joyous and livelyquality of themusic in which"each animal[character] has a separatemotif in themusic." Her focusis alwayson the music;"the full score is difficultand the forty-minuteopera should be played withoutbreak," she continues.And it does appearto be themusic, according to thosewho were there, that "transmitted itself like a spark"across Theresienstadt just likeKarel Svenk's ghetto anthem. "Because it [musicfrom children's opera] was sung withsuch fervor; because the songs meant something to us.'Thevictory of good over evil.'Those were our hopes."21

TrudeSimonsohn, a survivor of Terezin, recalls how the inmates whistled and sang songsfrom the opera: "There is somethingin themelody that gives one courage, no?" Zdenka Ehrlich-Fantlovi, herself an inmateand actressat Terezin,has describedthe "thrilling" aspect of attending one of the first Brundibdr performances in September1943: "I remembersqueezing into the hall where seats and standing roomwere all crammed.Lovely, healthy, talented kids they were, and all of them prisoners.Their eyes shone with excitement at thefall of wicked Brundibair."22 One of the survivingcast memberswho playedAninka at Terezfnsays that the performancesprovided performers like herself with an alternatereality. She recalls beingcalled her character's name, Aninka, not Gretke,in theghetto: "It became somethingthat pretended to be normalityand was natural.One couldsuddenly sing.There was a dog,a cat,and a school-all thingsthat didn't exist in ourdaily livesexcept in thischildren's opera.'"23 Many survivors who knew Brundibdr refer to thetherapeutic freedom of vicariouslyliving a differentlife through their "fairytale."Thus theyrelied on role-playingand music,feeling nourished with "dream foods,"as wellas withhope for the future.

Ironically,the future generation to whomthe Brundibdr players sang in 1943 and 1944 would be thoseteenagers-albeit mostly non-Jewish ones-presently per- formingBrundibdr for new audiencesin Germanyand elsewhere.This is where survivorslike Simonsohn have contributed by meeting with the youth ensembles and theirteachers to helpthem better understand Terezin and what the real setting of Kraisa'sopera was like.One actresswho playedthe "cat" in Terezin'sBrundibdr admitsthat she has neverforgotten the opera and itsmusic, but she can no longer singBrundibdr melodies because it is too difficultfor her emotionally. She believes, however,that the childrenwho now learn the opera'sroles, including that of the "cat,"will "stillhear also the childrenwhat they sang thattime and theyare not here [sic]. And theyfeel that theywant to continue.. . . That this children'sopera is almosta memorialfor the childrenthat did not makeit (we are onlythree survivors fromthe cast)."24Indeed, by relyingon the culturalheritage of the blackestperiod

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions in theirnation's history, the young actors in Germanyare performing theatre history to remindcontemporary audiences of German past injustice, while paying tribute to theindomitable spirit of Jewishyouth which somehow flowered in a sinkholeof horror.

NOTES

1.This andall translationsfrom German are my own. This citation is fromthe published piano reduction(Prague: Tempo Publishing, 1993). Withthe supportof theFritz-Bauer Institute,Frankfurt, and otherHolocaust-related documentation centers, Jeunesses Musi- calesDeutschland has compiled pedagogical materials for Brundibdr hereafter referred to as Brundibair-Mappe[Research Materials]. This excerptmay be foundon pages 41-42. MusicologistJoza Karas, who retrievedthe original piano reduction from Terezin survivors, haswritten about the opera in Musicin Terezin(New York: Beaufort Books, 1985). 2. See Karas,"Operatic Performances inTerezin: Krisa's Brundibdr" in RebeccaRovit and AlvinGoldfarb, eds. TheatricalPerformance during the Holocaust: Texts, Documents, Memoirs (Baltimore:The JohnsHopkins University Press/PAJ Books, 1999), 194. Schiichterwas transportedto Terezinin November1941. 3. Thiscomes from the organization's web site: www.JeunessesMusicales.de. The research materialson Brundibdrreinforce this stance. The GeneralSecretary in Germany,Thomas Rietschel,welcomes inquiries at: JeunessesMusicales Deutschland, Marktplatz 12, 97990 Weikersheim,Germany. Fax: 079-348526. Performancesof Brundibdrare now being scheduledin Northand South America. A performancetook place last year in Toronto; more recently,performances took place in Colorado,in Pennsylvania'sLehigh Valley, and in Chicago. 4. See interviewwith Cultural Minister Michael Naumann, Der Spiegel,Nr. 18, May 3, 1999, 194-96.

5. Walser'sspeech was in October.His remarksare cited in manyof the following: Gunter Hofmann'sinterview with Bubis, Der Spiegel,November 30, 1998,52. The speechby Bubis fromNovember 9, 1998,appeared in theFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (referred hereafter as FAZ) on November10, 1998,47. The controversycontinued with Klaus von Dohnanyi, "EveryoneCould TestHis Conscience,"FAZ, November14, 1998, FAZ, November30, 1998,50; formerpresident, Richard von Weizaicker, "The Argument is GettingDangerous," FAZ, November20, 1998, 41. In Die Zeit,November 26, 1998, JanRoss wrote"Aus see Auschwitzlernen," 3, whileSaul Friedlainderexplored "The Metaphorof Evil," 50. Also editorials:Marcel Reich-Ranicki, "The BestThat We Can Be,"FAZ, December 2, 1998,41; AleksanderTisma, "We're the Wolves, We're the Lambs," FAZ, December7, 1998,49. As the debatecontinued, letters to the editorincreasingly referred to the debate:see FAZ, November14, 11; FAZ, November30, 1998, 12. Local newspaperspublished updated storieson thecontroversy. See ThomasGross, "Wie gedenktman richtig" ["How does one RememberCorrectly"], Der MannheimerMorgen, December 3, 1998, 32; Uwe Kntipfer, "Mahnmalor Museum,"Der MannheimerMorgen, December 4, 1998,4. The Spiegelissue ofNovember 30, 1998 istentitled "Ist die Schuldvergihrt?" ["Has GuiltExpired?"]. Walser metBubis face-to-face in mid-December.See theirexchange in FAZ, "Wirbrauchen eine neue Sprachefor die Erinnerung"["We Need a new Languagefor Remembrance"],

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions December 14, 1998, Feuilleton,39ff. ZDF televisionthen aired a live "Holocaust-Debate," December 15, 1998, 10:45 p.m. Prominent politicians and Bubis (but not Walser) continuedthe debate untilmidnight. Meanwhile, Spiegel (December 21, 1998) interviewed Michael Naumann last year to discuss the controversyas well as his earlypreference for a "learningcenter." This is just a samplingfrom several newspapers. Newspapers in othercities like Berlinalso coveredthe debate. Bubis died in the summerof 1999. The German-born Americanhistorian, Fritz Stern, became the recipientof the 1999 Peace Prizefor Literature. Stern'sOctober acceptancespeech has servedto softenWalser's polarizing views. Sternhas warned against putting an end to the public soul-searchingthat has become part of Germany'sattempts to come to termswith its history.For Sternthere is no end to history, nor is therea completelynew beginning.The Holocaust is part of historyfor all Germans. Nonetheless,Germans continue to disagreeon how to memorializethe Holocaust.

6. Der Spiegel,Nr. 18, May 3, 1999, 195.

7. Fifteenmillion marks have been authorizedfor the memorial,but a financialplan for the exhibitionspace and archiveis stillunder discussion. Leaders of othergroups murdered by the Nazis are dissatisfiedwith the memorial'scommitment to dead Jews.Meanwhile on January27, 2000, neo-Nazisprotested the memorialby marchingthrough the Brandenburg Gate.

8. Eisenman interviewedby Hanno Rauterberg,Die Zeit, December 10, 1998, 51.

9. Lettersto the FAZ writtenby survivorsof Theresienstadtsuggest Germany's teenage generationas a sourceof "empathy"for the past and hope forthe future.See EvelinaMerova and Trude Simonsohn'sletters to FAZ, November30, 1998, 12.

10. Eisenman in Die Zeit, December 1998, 51.

11. In Klaus Umbach, "Schreckenspielmit Pfiff,"Der Spiegel,Nr. 4, January25, 1999, 191-92.

12. Ibid., 192.

13. Ibid., 192.

14. JeunessesMusicales Deutschland has compiled an impressivearray of resourcesfor educatorsand music institutionsabout lifein Terezin.

15. This sentimenthas been attributedto Ullmann by performersfrom Terezin like Zdenka Ehrlich-Fantlovai,as well as by thosewho have studiedhis work.

16. Ilona Ziok's filmon Kurt Gerron featuresUte Lemper and Ben Raabe, as well as former cabaretartists of theJewish Kulturbund like Camilla Spira.An accompanyingCD by Warner reproducessongs from Gerron'sGerman-language "Karrusell" cabaret at There- sienstadt.The Nippon Film Company is producingthe Coco Schumannfilm in Berlinwith a screenplayby Roy Kift.

17. Moravian College, Pennsylvania,hosted an exhibitionand symposiumon Terezin entitled,"Art, Music, and Education: Strategiesfor Survival," February 2000. The exhibitions being preparedare "Legacies of Silence: The Visual Arts and the Interpretationof Holocaust Memory," 2000, London; "The Last Expression:Art from the Archivesof Auschwitz,"Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, NorthwesternUniversity, Fall 2001, Evanston,Illinois.

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This content downloaded from 129.237.46.100 on Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:04:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 18. PhilippManes directed a German-language lecture series and public play readings for Terezin'sFreizeitgestaltung. His journals are among the Philipp Manes Papers, The Wiener Library,London. 19. This citationcomes from pedagogical materials of theBrundibair-Mappe, 41. The positiveresponse by schoolsto theBrundibdr project in Germanyand in easternEurope suggestsa potential model for American communities in termsof Holocaust remembrance. As mentionedabove, some American communities have begun to adoptthis model. 20. Mandlin Brundibair-Mappe,Part 3, "Brundibdrund die Kindervon Theresienstadt. A Radio Feature"by HanneloreWonshick, transcript, July 21, 1997, Radio Bremen,n.p. Thiswill be referredto hereafteras Brundibair-Mappe,Part 3, RadioFeature. 21. HelgaKinsky in Brundibair-Mappe,Part 3, RadioFeature, n.p. 22. Ehrlich-Fantlovi,unpublished English-language translation (by DerekViney) of "Calmnessis strength,"said Father,reproduced among excerpted chapters in Rovitand Goldfarb,eds. TheatricalPerformance during the Holocaust, 241.

23. GretaKlingsberg, nde Hoffmeister, in Brundibair-Mappe, Part 3, RadioFeature, n.p. 24. Ela Weissberger,now of the U.S., in Brundibair-Mappe,Part 3, RadioFeature, n.p. At MoravianCollege's symposium and concert,"Art, Music, and Educationas Strategiesfor Survival"on February10, 2000, Ms. Weissbergersang the finale with a groupof school children.

REBECCA ROVIT mostrecently edited TheatricalPerformance during the Holocaust: Texts,Documents, Memoirs (with Alvin Goldfarb) for PAJ Publications.The book was the 1999 Finalistof the MorrisJ. and Betty Kaplun Foundationof the National JewishBook Awardin the Holocaust category.She is currentlypreparing an exhibitionfor the Block Museum at NorthwesternUniversity, "The Last Expression:Art From the Archivesof Auschwitz."

PAJ,NO. 65 (2000) PP. 111-122: @ 2000 The JohnsHopkins UniversityPress

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