Cabaret, Music and Humor in the Terezín/Theresienstadt Ghetto
- Date
- Thursday 30 April 2015
Dr Lisa Peschel, University of York
Thursday 30 April 2015, 16:30-18:00, Lecture Theatre 1, School of Music
The World War II Jewish ghetto at Terezín (in German, Theresienstadt) was a site of great suffering and deprivation, but was also the site of a desperately vibrant cultural life initiated by the prisoners themselves. During my interviews with survivors in 2004-2008 several previously unknown scripts came to light, ranging from cabarets and musical revues to historical and verse dramas.
In this lecture, illustrated by excerpts of songs and dialogue from scripts, I argue that theatrical performance served as a way for the Terezín prisoners to create psychologically manageable narratives of ghetto life and to reassert their own incredibly diverse identities.
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