ORIGINS
Terezín, or as the Germans named it, Theresienstadt, is located about 40 miles northwest of Prague and was built as a garrison city in the 1780s. From 1941 to 1945, the Nazis used Terezín as a transit camp, ghetto, and concentration camp for Jewish prisoners. Remarkably, it was a prison where the arts and humanities thrived amidst unspeakable horror. While people continued to die of disease and starvation, the prisoners gave more than 2,400 lectures and presented more than 1,000 concerts — including 16 performances of Verdi’s Requiem Mass — for those who remained. Despite its reputation as a propaganda camp, more than 140,000 people were imprisoned in Terezín and 33,430 were murdered within the ghetto walls. Another 88,000 were sent to the death camps, including 15,000 children, of whom fewer than 150 are believed to have survived. Terezín was liberated on May 8, 1945.
The Verdi performances, led by prisoner Rafael Schächter in 1943 and 1944, inspired conductor Murry Sidlin to create the concert-drama Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín . The success of that concert led to the creation of The Defiant Requiem Foundation, an award-wining documentary film, a second concert-drama, and engaging educational materials.
6
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator