In the organizer's words:

"I walked through Theresienstadt ..." - a musical evening with Terezin survivor Edith Erbrich, actor Roman Knižka, dramaturge Kathrin Liebhäuser and the OPUS 45 wind quintet

The musical reading "Ich wand're durch Theresienstadt ..." recalls the suffering, hopes and artistic self-assertion of the imprisoned Jews in the Theresienstadt camp. Special attention is paid to the fates of the young people at the time.

In 1941, the SS set up the Theresienstadt camp in the Bohemian town of Terezín. For many, this place was a "forecourt of hell" - the last stop before deportation to extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau. Theresienstadt served as a prison for 150,000 German, Austrian, Czech, Dutch and Danish Jews until 1945. One in four died there. Of the almost 15,000 children who were brought to the ghetto, only 132 survived.

Despite hunger, illness, forced labor and fear of death, a remarkable cultural life developed in Theresienstadt: Lectures, cabaret, jazz concerts, opera and theater performances as well as numerous chamber music performances. The works of these composers were long forgotten and will be brought back to the fore in this concert.

Recitation: Roman Knižka

Music: OPUS 45 wind quintet

Texts: by Edith Erbrich (present in person), Ilse Weber, Zvi Cohen, Leo Strauss, Jana Renée Friesová, Helga Hošková-Weissová, Hannelore Brenner-Wonschick and Gerty Spies, among others

Music: works by Giuseppe Verdi, Bedřich Smetana, Pavel Haas, Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann and Gideon Klein, among others

The dramaturgy of the concert integrates the results of school workshops:

- selected texts from a creative writing workshop with pupils

- a chorus from the spoken opera "Brundibár" rehearsed together with the pupils

Following the concert, there will be a second part with an in-depth discussion with Edith Erbrich - moderated by Kathrin Liebhäuser.

The concert is being held in cooperation with numerous partners.