Music in concentration camps
1933-1945
Music was an integral part
of camp life in
the Nazi-run camps.
I. Singing on Command
• 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.
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.