The children of the dead city
The musical theater piece The Children of the Dead City with the subtitle " Musical drama against forgetting" tells an episode from the Theresienstadt ghetto in which children in particular are at the center of the action. The work was released as a music radio play and album on June 23, 2018, the day in 1944 the events on which the story is based took place . The composer is Lars Hesse. The author is Thomas Auerswald. The project was led by Sarah Kass. Through the German Institute for Remembrance Culture, all schools that want to perform the play have access to educational material, text and notes. The project's patron is the actress Iris Berben .
Historical background
On November 24, 1941, a ghetto was established in Theresienstadt as an interim and transit camp , initially accommodating the Jewish population of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and, from 1942, also German and Austrian Jews, before they were sent to extermination camps , mainly to Auschwitz-Birkenau , were transported in the east.
There were around 15,000 children in Theresienstadt who were less than fifteen years old before they were deported. This number only refers to the children who had passed Theresienstadt. The children who stayed in Theresienstadt until the end are not included here. Most of them were murdered in Auschwitz, 400 died in Theresienstadt. According to previous studies, only about 245 children returned from the transports. 1569 children under the age of 15 were rescued after the liberation of the ghetto.
narrative
The children of the dead city tells allegorically about the children imprisoned in Theresienstadt, their lives there and their murder in the Nazi death camps. The true story on which the piece is based is based on the last days of the composer Hans Krása , who was brought to Theresienstadt in 1942 and was ordered there to rehearse and perform his children's opera Brundibár with the imprisoned children. On the one hand, cultural events in the city were used to mislead foreign observers that the Jewish city population was doing well and lacking for nothing. On the other hand, a documentary about life in Theresienstadt was planned in order to convey this impression with the help of film. After the recordings for the propaganda film , which, in addition to many scenes of an allegedly pleasant life in Theresienstadt, staged the children's opera and other musical performances, almost all of the participants were murdered: the children, the composer and the director of the film documentary, Kurt Gerron .
Play
The play includes 36 musical numbers and is divided into five acts as well as a prologue and an epilogue . Musically it is a well-composed large form of rock, klezmer and symphonic music. The specialty of the performing figures is their assignment in singing and speaking voices. The concept stipulates that the actors of the seven young leading roles and the children's choir are cast with singers. The trapped adults, i.e. those people who are well aware of the hopelessness of their situation, only have speaking voices. The soldiers, guards and Nazi figures are consistently silent and act in pantomime. Some of the lyrics of the songs with which the seven children introduce themselves in the main roles are inspired by traditional original poems by the children who actually lived in Theresienstadt. The newly invented children's fable Der Fuchs , which is rehearsed in the third act as a “piece in a piece”, is a reminiscence of Hans Krása's children's opera Brundibár , which, even if it is inspired by it, goes lyrically and musically different paths. The play is formally divided into two levels of play: the real events in the city and the elevated level of the narrator, who shows himself from act to act with a steadily growing children's choir at his side.
On April 5, 2019, the music drama was premiered at the Papageno-Musiktheater in Frankfurt am Main. The production comes from Hans-Dieter Maienschein and his son Niklas. Iris Berben is also the patron here. The piece was performed a total of 12 times in Frankfurt. The sold out Dernière took place on January 25, 2020. Another production directed by Henner Kallmeyer premiered in Bad Sassendorf on February 21. This production was played a total of four times; it is the first performance of the play in cooperation with schools.
action
1st act
It is a dark morning. A lonely light shines in front of a house. A little girl, Lisa, comes out of the house and makes her way to school. Michael and Lea, also on their way to school, play the top game, according to the rules of which you are "dead" as soon as the top stops turning. The macabre game is surpassed by Albert's song, which is about the fact that only death never gets tired - while at the same time the imprisoned adults make their way to the labor service. Albert meets Hannah, who, unlike him, still has a spark of hope in her. But then soldiers march. Brutally. Violent. A train rushes up. The children jump aside. Soldiers get people out of the train cars. In the middle of them is a little girl: Dana, who is pulled aside by Hannah and the others and brought to safety.
2nd act
In the commandant's office. The soldiers treat the prisoners at will. The commandant summoned the composer. He mimes his brutal commands. However, the composer interprets it as he would like to understand it: as hope. The orders tell him to direct the children of the camp to the performance of an opera that they would like to record for a film documentary about the “comfortable life” in the camp. The commandant gives the composer seven days. The composer leaves the office and tells his wife about it. His wife supports him in the assumption that this might save the children. But later she admits to herself that she is afraid of being so much more realistic than her husband.
3rd act
The composer informs the children of the choir and the piano player that they have been ordered to perform his play. A play that should even be part of a film. Everyone is very excited. A shy flirtation develops between Hannah and Albert - especially since the two are also cast as the main roles in the opera. The smaller children escape into dream worlds during rehearsals, which is an important catalyst for music. The whole thing is observed suspiciously by Benjamin, who usually remains seated in a corner. Benjamin experienced things from which the other children were previously spared. The rehearsals are getting more and more perfect, everyone is happy, there is a lot of laughter. Only the large final children's choir, the heart of the opera, does not really want to succeed.
4th act
Film people mingle with the soldiers. The commandant orders that the prisoners have to make the camp “friendlier”. Later that evening: Hannah and Albert get closer in an attic. Albert tells Hannah that he has found a way to escape and tries to convince her to come with him. But she cannot do it because she has taken responsibility for the smaller children and puts all hope in the performance and the visit of the diplomats. Albert flees, is discovered and murdered.
5th act
The commander opens the performance of the opera to the visitors. The guests arrive. The children perform - and this time the big final choir succeeds. There is applause from the visitors. Even the commanding officer is moved. He leads his guests out. The film team dismantles the cameras. Suddenly and without warning, the soldiers lead away everyone. The act ends with the children pulling away into the dark. An epilogue ends the piece.
Contributors
Authors
- Sarah Kass, project manager, educational concept
- Lars Hesse, music and arrangement
- Thomas Auerswald, book and lyrics
Actor in radio play and album production
- Jade Schulz | Hannah
- Michael Schulte | Albert
- Peter Heppner | The composer
- Iris Berben | The composer's wife
- Esther Bejarano | The pianist
- Willi Hagemeier | The narrator
- Cornelia Schönwald | The teacher
- Nicole Frolov | Lea
- Nils Dahl | Michael
- Lisa Kirchberg | Lisa
- Marlene Kirchberg | Dana
- Hendrik Weßler | Benjamin
- Paderborn Cathedral Choir
- and choir of the girls' choir | Children's choir
- Ben Pleininger | 1st friend
- Christian Frölich | 2nd friend
- Christoph Brumby | 3rd friend
- Sarah Geburzi | 1. girl
- Lucia Geringswald | 2. girl
- Jan Westphal | 1st boy
- Gereon Hartmann | 2nd boy
- Fabiana Förch | Special artist
Musicians in radio play and album production (selection)
- Lars Hesse | Piano, grand piano, keyboards, programming
- David Janus | Guitars
- Ulrich Bannenberg | Guitars and drums
- Maurice mare | Guitars
- Simon Horn | Bass, double bass
- Igor Epstein | Solo violin
- Anna Gertsel | First violin
- Eryu Feng | Second violin
- Fariza Mukhamediyarova | viola
- Ana Percevic | cello
- Michał Ciesielski | Saxophone, clarinet
- Dawid Lipka | Trumpet
- Marek Romanowski | Trombone, flugelhorn
Other contributors
- David Janus, mix, mastering
- Thomas Auerswald, director
- Lars Hesse, musical director
- Thomas Berning, Domkapellmeister, leader of the Paderborn Cathedral Choir
- Gabriele Sichler-Karle, cathedral cantor, head of the Paderborn Girls' Choir
- Prof. Dr. Gideon Greif , Historical Advice
Publications
album
- The Children of the Dead City (June 22, 2018)
Singles
- Jade Schulz - I'll wipe away tears later (June 8, 2018)
- Peter Heppner & Jade Schulz / Michael Schulte - Still the same sky / Alone (November 9, 2018)
- Jade Schulz & Michael Schulte - Death Never Tires / Just a Dream (January 19, 2020)
reception
Influenced by this musical theater piece, Peter Heppner wrote the song Theresienstadt: Behind the Wall together with Dirk Riegner . In terms of content, he tried to put himself into the situation. What would he say if he had been a child of this "Dead City"? The piece appeared on his third studio album Confessions & Doubts in September 2018
literature
- Sarah Kass: Children's drawings from the Theresienstadt ghetto (1941–1945). A contribution to the culture of remembrance and legacy, KONTEXT Art - Mediation - Cultural Education. Volume 13, Tectum Verlag 2015, ISBN 978-3-8288-3489-7 .
- Edith Erbrich: I haven't forgotten how to laugh. Edition Momos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 2014, ISBN 9783930578269 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.60minuten.net/die-kinder-der-toten-stadt/
- ↑ http://abendprogramm.papageno-theater.de/?id=482
- ↑ The children of the dead city / The children of the dead city. listen.tidal.com, June 22, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Jade Schulz / I'll wipe away tears later. listen.tidal.com, June 8, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Still the same sky / The children of the dead city. listen.tidal.com, November 9, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Jade Schulz & Michael Schulte / Death never gets tired / Just a dream. listen.tidal.com, June 8, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Tim: Peter Heppner: “You can make something strange to yourself”. Freiepresse.de, September 26, 2018, accessed on October 3, 2018 .