Opera "Brundibar" - the legend of the Terezinsky ghetto

ST. PETERSBURG. At the Mikhailovsky Theater, the premiere of the children’s opera Hans Krasa’s "Brundibar."

The “exemplary” concentration camp Theresienstadt arose on the territory of an ordinary Czech town. During the war, he was turned into a transit point for Jews deported from different parts of Europe. The ghetto was ideally suited for propaganda purposes, demonstrating the "humanism" and "tolerance" of the Nazis. People doomed to death, albeit with a reprieve, found themselves in an illusory "donated city." That’s what Terezin was named in the Jesuit documentary, commissioned by the SS Reichsfuhrer Himmler. It was intended to demonstrate a vibrant cultural life, unlimited possibilities created to meet the intellectual needs of prisoners. Concerts of classical music, exhibitions, performances, sporting events, lectures were a phantasmagoric decoration, allowing to veil the true purpose of the terrible object. But at the same time they helped to survive, creating a short-term illusion of a normal life.

The premiere of the children’s opera Hans Krása by Brundibár about brave children ready to fight the evil organ grinder Brundibar for the sake of saving a sick mother took place in a shelter for Jewish children Hagibor in 1942. A year later, the composer and small actors ended up in a "model" concentration camp. Having restored the clavier from memory and reworked it taking into account the musical instruments remaining in the ghetto, Krasus staged an opera for the prisoners of Theresienstadt. A bright, positive, hopeful performance managed to show more than five dozen times. A delegation from the Red Cross saw him visiting the ghetto with an inspection. The performances continued until the sending of Krasa and the young actors to Auschwitz, from where many of them did not have a chance to return.

The performance was destined for a long life. From time to time he appears in the repertoire of various theaters around the world. May 9, the premiere of "Brundibar" in St. Petersburg with a Russian libretto, which was attended by former prisoners who took part in rehearsals and performances - Evelina Merova and Ala Weissberger.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru