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April 25, 2008
From Terezin to Vancouver
Brundibár, a children's fairy tale opera, has a tragic history.
OLGA LIVSHIN
A children's opera based on a fairy tale should be a cheerful and fluffy affair, like a teddy bear. Brundibár, a children's opera written in 1938 by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása, with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, is just such a piece of light, charming music. It would've been a theatrical bauble, simple and colorful, if its tragic history hadn't turned the little musical trinket into a symbol of Jewish courage and defiance. Now, wherever Brundibár is performed, people remember the Holocaust and Terezin.
Terezin (Theresienstadt in German) is a small town in former Czechoslovakia. During the Nazis' occupation, it was converted into a Jewish ghetto and transit camp. From Terezin, trains full of Jews departed regularly to Auschwitz, Treblinka and other extermination camps. About 140,000 Jews from all over Europe, 15,000 of them children, passed through Terezin, before being shipped towards their last destination – a gas chamber. Only 100 of those children have survived. Krása was deported to Terezin in 1942.
Despite the imminent deaths, the terribly crowded living conditions, hunger and diseases, the arts blossomed in Terezin. People painted, sang and played music. They organized orchestras and theatres. They published a magazine and wrote poetry. Forced by the Nazis to wear their yellow Jewish stars, deprived of all human rights, they defied their oppressors by simply living with dignity. Many of the music scores, drawings and poems have outlived their creators. One of the surviving pieces of art is Brundibár, the most popular show in Terezin.
Although the original orchestral notation of the opera had been lost after Krása's arrest, one of the children-prisoners brought the piano score to Terezin. Krása reconstructed the music for the instruments available at the camp. From 1942 to 1944, the children of Terezin performed the show 55 times. As the young singers were being constantly transported to Auschwitz, new performers learned the roles, and the shows went on. Only one member of the original cast is still alive: then 11-year-old Ela Weissberger played Cat in Terezin in all 55 performances.
Weissberger lives in New York now. "For us children, the show was an escape from horror," she recalled. "We forgot all our trouble when we were on stage. We performed for the old and the sick. Germans didn't come to the show. It was in Czech language. They didn't understand."
The storyline of the opera is simple. Young Aninka and her brother, Pepicek, need milk for their sick mother. To earn money, they sing in the town square, but the evil organ grinder Brundibár chases them away. With the help of their allies – Cat, Dog and Sparrow – the children triumph over the organ grinder. He leaves town in disgrace, and the chorus sings a happy song of victory.
The boy who played Brundibár wore a black mustache, and everyone in Terezin knew who the evil man with a black mustache really was. In their small way, the performers sent out their message of defiance and resistance.
In 1944, Terezin served as the Nazis' propaganda tool. To dispel the worldwide rumors about exterminating Jews, the Nazis invited Red Cross representatives to visit the camp. Brundibár was the main attraction of that visit. After admiring the show and its young performers, the Red Cross reported that the Jews were being well treated by the Nazis.
After the war, the opera fell into oblivion but was revived in recent years. And, this year, Brundibár arrived Vancouver. Staged by the Children's Opera Ensemble at the University of British Columbia and presented in collaboration with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, the opera will be a part of Songs of Hope and Remembrance, performed to commemorate Yom Hashoah. The performance will take place at the Chan Centre on April 30. Weissberger, a special guest of the show, will be on stage together with the young soloists.
For the contempotrary young singers in Vancouver, this opera is a history lesson. Robin Eder-Warren, who plays Aninka, said, "When we learned we'd be performing Brundibár, we all went online to learn its history. The show is allegorical, sugar-coated. It wouldn't have been allowed by the Nazis if it was otherwise."
Olivia Kurth, who plays Dog, added, "We realize how lucky we are in Canada. Those kids in Terezin – they couldn't plan beyond the show. They could be sent to their deaths the next day. My grandmother escaped from Czechoslovakia when she was a child. She is so happy we're performing Brundibár."
The show at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts will also include Coastal Sound Children's Touring Choir, Vancouver Children's Choir and Surrey Youth Choir. They will perform songs of peace, hope and tolerance from all over the world. So many children still suffer from wars, hunger and tyranny – for them, and in memory of those who perished, the young heroes of Brundibár will rise and sing again.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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