Music in concentration camps 1933-1945

Music was an integral part of camp life in

the Nazi-run camps.

• while marching, doing exercises, on the way to or from work,

• to frighten and humiliate prisoners,

• after a long day of hard work, singing was an enormous physical effort and could be life-threatening.

I. Singing on Command

Orders:

“In step ... March! Sing!”“Sing, a Song!”

• anyone who did not know the song was beaten,

• anyone who sang too softly was beaten,

• anyone who sang too loud was beaten .

Songs

• banal

• naive

• humiliating

• double-meaning

• obscene texts

• offending the prisoners’ sense of shame

Anthems

• Many concentration camps had their own special anthems - official tune for the camp, e.g.:

- „Moorsoldatenlied”

- „Treblinkalied” (Treblinka Song)

Music from radio or gramophone

• Propaganda speeches

• Music by a German composer and antisemite - Richard Wagner

Camp orchestras

• amateur and professional musicians,• from a temporary trio in Treblinka

to a symphony orchestra in Auschwitz.

• The camp orchestras:- provided background music for punishments

and executions - gave concerts for the entertainment of the SS

guards- deceived the newly-arriving prisoners at the

selection process.

Music to entertain the guards

• often members of the camp orchestras gave private performances for the guards,

• works by Grieg, Schumann and Mozart were played for the guards who came to “relax” after the process known as selection.

II. Music initiated by the prisoners

• music gave the prisoners consolation, support and confidence,

• aim: to set an example of solidarity and humane behavior in their dehumanized surrounding.

Spontaneous Music

• when prisoners marched to the gas chambers they sang the Jewish song “Hatikvah”,

• they expressed their protest, and showed that they had not been broken.

Partisans’ songs

• associated with resistance and freedom

• for the German-speaking prisoners: “Die Gedanken sind frei” (“Thoughts are free”)

• for the Polish prisoners: “Warszawianka”

• for the Jewish prisoners: “Zog nisht keyn mol” ("Never Say”)

Conclusions• music - an integral part in the daily life of the Nazi concentration camps,

• professional and amateur musicians, of different ages, genders and nationalities, played music on command, and on their own initiative,

• they performed solo, in choirs, in chamber music groupings, in small ensembles, in jazz bands, in camp orchestras and in symphony orchestras,

• music of various kinds: from light music to classical music, from traditional folk songs to critical cabaret songs,

• music was used in the „process of breaking the will, and degrading the prisoners” as human beings,

• music was used also a sign of resistence and freedom,

• it was made in spite of constant hunger, mental and physical violence, diseases, an uncertain future and acts of terror.

Task

• Listen to the soundtrack from

The Schindler’s List

and express your feelings and emotions by making coal paintings.

• You can:- draw

- write (e.g. poems, notes, thoughs…)

- or whatever artistic you wish.