1 SfM 3-23-17 Dr. Tamara Reps Freeman Holocaust Ethnomusicologist & Violist Music Composed in the WWII Ghettos and Concentration Camps: Jewish Prisoners’ Expressions of Despair, Hope, Resilience, and Resistance Lecture Recital Attendance: 40 -Taught instrumental music for thirty years (up to 2012) -1994 Holocaust genocide studies mandated -Music in the ghettos and concentration camps -she discovered this through the internet, dozens and dozens of interviews -We begin with two pictures that symbolize what music was like during that time -multi-generational -they had to wear the Stars of David -professional musicians who were banned from state-sponsored orchestras -formed their own -children performing an opera, did not have to wear the star -taking off the star made them feel free -performed the operetta over 55 times -after the performance, they were shipped to Auschwitz, where many were murdered -those who survived tell the story -All four emotions woven into the music: despair, hope, resilience, and resistance -she is the musicologist for the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO) -photo of Prisoners’ monument, Dachau concentration camp -now an education center, completely sanitized -art symbolizes the patches of all peoples who were persecuted Lieder fun di Ghettos und Lagerrn, Schmerke Kaczerginsky (1908-1954) -survived Holocaust, went to numerous displaced persons’ camps and asked them to sing him their songs -only one English page in the whole book: title page -everything else in Yiddish (literally means Jewish: “Yid” means “Jew”) -but book was out of print -Velvel Pasternak recreated it in a more user-friendly version called Songs Never Silenced Joseph Bausch viola, 1935 Made for Tauba Botzel z’l (1865-1942) -moved to Germany to be in the most cultured place on earth, lived at 9 Wrangelstrasse, Berlin, where Nazis captured her and took her away -very petite, tiny fingers -Bausch custom made this “lady’s viola” -has a one piece back 2 -She was taken to Terazim and died there (Theresienstadt in Czechoslavakia) -Stolperstein, stumbling block -made of bronze or copper, placed in front of the homes of all the Jews taken in Germany -righteous gentile neighbor saved her viola when he saw what was happening -sent it to her sister in NJ -sold in a bowmaker’s shop, Joseph Ames -this is Dr. Freeman’s home state, and he recommended it to her -this was while she was researching the Holocaust originally Auschwitz Orchestra -six men’s orchestras, one women’s orchestra, conducted by niece of Gustav Mahler Buchenwald Orchestra -played when people went out to work, for hangings, for Nazi entertainment -picture of Hans Bonarewitz, an escaped prisoner from Mauthausen, being led to the gallows. The orchestra was forced to continuously play “J’attendrat ton retour – I shall wait for your return” Classical Composers in Terezin -Pavel Haas (1899-1944), Study for Strings -Gideon Klein Hans Krasa Viktor Ullmann Ise Weber Torah -Exodus 14:26-15:26 -sung using trope -“Song of the Sea,” song of Miriam singing -the print is written in the poetic style -looks like it is symbolizing the Jews walking through the dry seabed with water on either side -*she sings this for us -known to be the oldest melody recorded orally by the Jewish people Oifn Pripitchik, By the Fireplace Mark Markovich Warshawsky (1848-1907) Used by children to study the Torah, known as the alphabet song -beloved melody -BUT during the war, the children were pushed into ghettos and surrounded by SS -so new words: “Fun Der Arbet,” By the Ghetto Gate a Fire Burns -this happened with many beloved melodies to express the fear, despair, hope, resilience, and resistance Es Brent, It Burns lyrics and music by Mordechai Gebertig (1877-1942) -musically illiterate, but played a shepherd’s pipe as a boy, and learned to compose 3 -in 1938 he composed this piece as an expression of spiritual resistance following a massacre in a small Polish town -became one of the most famous resistance emblems -the final two notes of the piece (d up to g) were the notes of the fire engines rushing to put out the fires -picture of a fire consuming a synagogue, with well-groomed young men in the foreground just watching Vilna Ghetto -thus far the songs have been short. Others are more rambling, stream of consciousness -the text for this was by Kasriel Broyda -this ghetto housed many cultural treasures, so the Jews pushed into it to protect it -composer was taken to Königsberg Germany and forcibly drowned in the Baltic Sea -use of minor thirds throughout as most primal sounds in every land on earth -these songs were the prisoners’ personal songs, played specific ways when they were with specific people, bringing hope and comfort Hungarian Gypsies, Roma/Sinti -also oppressed -11 million people killed, 6 million of which were Jews, some of which were Gypsies Tzigayner Lid by Dovid Beygelman (1887-1945) -his heart went out to the gypsies he saw at Auschwitz, so he composed this -picture of the children playing instruments, and of others waiting for their deaths -has “gypsy music” as second section Yisrolik, Little Israeli Boy Lyrics by L. Rosethal (?), Music by M. Veksler -these children and teenagers smuggled food and medicines into the ghettos and camps -song is about feisty and courageous Israeli children, specifically “an orphaned cigarette peddler who greets his fate with a whistle and a song” Tsvey Taybelekh, Two Doves Lyricist unknown, Yiddish Love Song, Liuba Levitska sang it -symbolized the families split apart -she taught in a village, and sang opera in a ghetto -tried to smuggle food into the ghetto for her mother, and was caught and imprisoned -still sang this song even as she was tortured -had her dig her own grave, but as she was shot and fell into it, still sang this song -septuplets symbolize the two doves fluttering, trying to kiss each other in midair but being pulled apart Dachau Lied, Dachau Song Lyrics by Jura Soyfer, melody by Herbert Zipper -well known lyricist in cabaret world of pre-war Vienna -tried to escape to Switzerland, but was caught and imprisoned 4 -men were treated as horses, and had to pull carts of bolders -Soyfer happened to be pulling a cart next to Herbert Zipper (conductor and composer from Austria) -they realized they needed to do something to bring comfort and strength to the men while they were being treated like animals -Zipper purposefully composed the music to be difficult and confusing -the point: as the men sing this song, they have to keep their minds sharp, even while hungry and being physically treated like animals -drawing saved from Dachau -Soyfer did not survive the war, but Zimmer did Herbert Zipper conducted the 50th anniversary of his Dachau Lied in Graz, Austria -had moved to USA and founded schools for music education Zog Nit Keynmol, Never Say You are Walking the Final Road -Lyrics by Hirsch Glik, Music by Dimitri Pokrass (1899-1978) and Daniel Pokrass (1905–1954) -national anthem of Jews that were in the Holocaust -inspired by two events -Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and capture (?) -We sang together Niggun for Tauba Botzel, Song Without Words for Tuaba Botzel By Tamara Reps Freeman, D.M.A. -She decided to commemorate Tauba Botzel -programmatic in nature -describes her life in Berlin as the war was simmering, what happened during her capture, death, and ultimately, her tears dropping from Heaven. Q/A: -Carol Silverman is another author who wrote a prize-winning book on such things. -Numerology/ spiritual significance in the septuplet figure or other place in the songs? -She does not personally see that, though it is a beautiful interpretation. -all the words are crammed in together to symbolize the struggling -further question: more broadly, is there numerological iconography? -she does not think so, though there may be Gematria (?) -Jewish alphabet and correlation to the numbers -Do you know of other instruments that have such connections? -Oh yes! Whole connection with Violins of Hope (project, book by James Grimes) -movie called Joe’s Violin -short documentary about a Holocaust survivor who listens to a Classical music station 5 -project to give needy kids instruments -Joe donated his instrument after the war -story of the young teenager who received this instrument -significant both after the Holocaust and how it is used now -the only thing the Nazis could not take away was the imagination, creativity, and hope -Why did the violin survive so much more than others? -Size? They could carry it everywhere? -That is definitely true. There are examples of much larger instruments being smuggled into ghettos piece by piece, even a cello! -How did the instruments get into the camps in the first place, especially considering the bands and orchestras were used there? -every time a rule was made by the SS, it was just as quickly broken or changed -the Nazis realized that music was a way of deceiving people AND gaining entertainment -as people descended from the cattle cars, the music made them think they were in a more happy, normal place (until later when they realized the truth) -instruments were often stolen or looted, and sold to gain money for the war -or brought into the Germans’ homes for personal use .