Prisoner orchestra

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Prisoner orchestra in the Janowska camp in Lviv

In the concentration and extermination camps of the “ Third Reich ”, where prisoner orchestras existed, music and singing were an integral part of everyday camp life. The role and task of music in the camps has not yet been sufficiently researched. For the prisoners, self-determined music was a form of help to survive, for the SS music and singing were a means of humiliation, served to destroy the will to live and was used to terrorize the camp inmates. Of course, it was also used to entertain the SS, the orchestras had to play when SS greats visited; Furthermore, the performances of the prisoner orchestras served to cover up and play down real life in the camp, even against doubters.

In some cases, the lyricists and composers in the camps succeeded in incorporating hidden content in songs against the inhuman conditions in the camps, as in the Dachau song, and in the suggestive power of music for the camp inmates, as in the song Moorsoldaten .

Function of the camp music

The role of music and the camp orchestra is ambivalent , because singing and making music were also a kind of survival aid, provided that they could be practiced voluntarily or in secret by the camp inmates. Singing your own songs or performing your own music was severely punished by the SS if it was discovered, unless the camp administration permitted it. In her book Women's Voices: Musicians remember Ravensbrück, the author Knapp presents the résumés of more than 140 women who made music in the Ravensbrück women's camp, and it turned out that these women overcome linguistic and cultural obstacles, create a feeling of togetherness and create their own personal Could maintain their identity and personal dignity.

The SS used prison orchestras in camps and the singing of songs to humiliate, break the will to live and torment the camp inmates. Singing songs while marching was part of the exercise of power by the SS camp leadership, as was the sound reinforcement through the loudspeaker systems. Music by the orchestras was also used during executions to force prisoners to listen. Singing was mostly arranged on the way to forced labor . In some cases the prisoner orchestras had to play when the deportation trains arrived so that the prisoners would not become suspicious and allow themselves to be driven into the gas chambers without resistance . Prisoner orchestras had to play in front of SS giants when they visited the camp and were intended to deceive or downplay foreign visitors about the function of the camps. Chants that echoed from the camps created a positive impression for the unsuspecting who came near the camp. The prisoner orchestras also played at events of the SS teams. The extent to which music was played in front of gas chambers to drown out the screams of the victims seems to have been practiced differently and is in part controversial. The task and functions of the prisoner orchestra have not been fully researched to this day.

Auschwitz concentration camp

With its numerous satellite camps, the Auschwitz concentration camp at times led up to six prisoner orchestras. There was the girls' orchestra and another four to five male orchestras and at times a "gypsy orchestra". The girls' orchestra achieved greater awareness than the men's orchestra. The orchestras had to play every morning for the inmates to march out and in the evening to march into the camps.

Girls orchestra

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, one of the few musicians of the girls' orchestra still alive today (picture 2007)

The camp commandant Josef Kramer had the Auschwitz girls' orchestra built in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp . Furthermore, the SS superintendent Maria Mandl was a supporter of the orchestra. She supported the construction of a special barrack, in which there was a wooden floor and heating for the musical instruments and musicians.

The girls' orchestra also had to give concerts for the SS or play music for them on Sundays. For example, it had to be played in person for Josef Mengele , a lover of classical music, and also for Franz Kramer. The girls' orchestra played for the labor columns at the gate of the concentration camp when they marched in and out.

Sick musicians were treated more carefully than the other sick prisoners. Well-known members of the camp orchestra were Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (cello), Alma Rosé (violinist and director of the orchestra), Esther Béjarano (accordion) and Fania Fénelon (piano and vocals).

The story of this girls' orchestra was processed in novels, documentaries, two films (1980 and 1992) and an opera.

Male orchestra

In January 1941, a prisoner orchestra was formed by men in Auschwitz concentration camp, in which Jews were initially not allowed. In contrast to the girls' orchestras, the male orchestras mostly consisted of professional musicians . When the Soviet soldiers advanced near the camp in October 1944, the camp inmates and orchestra members who were able to march were transported back to the interior of the Reich. A member of the orchestra was the Polish-French composer Szymon Laks .

One of the leaders of a male orchestra in Auschwitz concentration camp was the Polish composer and conductor Adam Kopycinski, who later became director of the Warsaw Philharmonic . The longings of the human heart seek a hold in the sphere of tones. Thanks to its power and suggestive power, the music strengthened what is most important in the audience - true nature [...] and promoted the self-esteem of people, which was so cruelly trampled on during the camp life [...] ]. "

Treblinka extermination camp

In 1942, the Polish professional jazz musician Artur Gold was deported to the Treblinka extermination camp . Kurt Franz , the deputy camp manager, saw him there with his violin when the deportation train arrived, sorted him out in front of the gas chambers and forced him to form an orchestra. The prisoner orchestra, consisting of up to ten musicians, was able to hold practice lessons under the guidance of Gold, during which the musicians were exempt from any work. Later they had to wear uniform clothing made of white and blue silk with an oversized bow tie. The prisoner orchestra was forced to play operetta music in front of the gas chambers at times in order to drown out the death screams. At evening roll calls, the orchestra played marching music as well as Polish and Yiddish folk songs . At larger events, the orchestra led by Artur Gold had to make music for the SS personnel.

In 1943 the prisoners' orchestra appeared in boxing matches, small plays and dance performances in the camp. When asked why music was being played in the extermination camp, a survivor of Treblinka Samuel Willenberg replied : “To ridicule what was going on there. They played for the Germans at lunch in front of the dining room window. They played after roll call after there was a beating. We sang the song Góralu, cy ce ni źal ... so that they could hear in the surrounding villages that there was life here. The farmers then said: They sang! And the Germans shouted: Louder! ”Among the musicians with gold was 14-year-old Edek , who arrived at the camp with his accordion and was sorted out in front of the gas chambers. After a song had been written by Walter Hirsch, Kurt Franz forced Gold to compose the melody for the so-called Treblinka hymn Fester Tritt . This song had to be sung by the inmates two or three times after roll call, when marching to work, on return and again during evening roll call.

Dachau concentration camp

Saying at the entrance gates of the concentration camp and refrain in the Dachau song "Arbeit macht frei" (here Dachau)

In Dachau concentration camp is an illegal prisoner orchestra was formed in 1938 and since 1941 the "Camp Music command" set up by the SS. This played at concerts that were held in the prisoners' pool on weekends, and also during acts of torture. Songs, choirs and sacred works were composed for the services of the imprisoned priests. Herbert Zipper , an Austrian conductor, composer and music teacher, deported to Dachau in May 1938, was with law Soyfer the Creator to Dachau song . This is a march and perseverance song that could only hint at the inhumane conditions in the camp. The concentration camp gate slogan “ Arbeit macht frei ” was the reason for the copywriter Soyfer to include the saying in the refrain . The song expressed the life situation of the camp inmates as a whole; it was not recognizable as critical. The prisoners had no writing materials, so Zipper composed a melody in his head for Soyfer's text, which he taught to two guitarists who were caught with him and a violin player.

Ravensbrück concentration camp

The Ravensbrück concentration camp is special in that the women imprisoned there refused to perform music.

For many women in the camp, singing and making music were an indispensable help in life when it was voluntarily and secretly possible. The songs made the connection to their previous life, to their family memories and to their celebrations. In Ravensbrück, songs were written that were either composed according to familiar melodies or composed by the artist himself. Some women had graduated from music studies and were professional musicians. Ten women wrote lyrics and composed pieces of music in the camp. There were secret musical performances in the camp and it turned out that these women were able to create a feeling of togetherness and maintain their personal identity and personal dignity despite linguistic and cultural differences. The Women of Ravensbruck made successfully for their own interests music and singing and not for the SS. So the French operetta was Le Available aux Enfers by Germaine Tillion at Ravensbruck.

Buchenwald concentration camp

After Ernst Thälmann's murder, political prisoners held secret funeral events in Buchenwald concentration camp

Soon after the Buchenwald concentration camp went into operation , the SS organized an orchestra with Sinti and Roma making music under the direction of a clarinetist from Czechoslovakia . The prisoners' orchestra played every morning and evening on the roll call square and when the work details march out and arrive. A loudspeaker system in the camp often played songs by Zarah Leander . Classical music was secretly played by a quartet led by Maruzice Hewitt and jazz music by Jiri Zak. Well-known artists and musicians such as Jura Soyfer , Hermann Leopoldi , Fritz Löhner-Beda and Paul Morgan were imprisoned in the camp.

The prisoners were often encouraged to sing loudly by the SS in order to humiliate them and weaken them during heavy physical labor. In December 1938, the camp commandant Arthur Rödl asked the prisoners to compose a camp song. Fritz Löhner-Beda and Hermann Leopoldi created the Buchenwald song, which consists of three stanzas and was then played as a marching song for the camp orchestras to move in and out. The beech forest song was perceived by the camp inmates as a resistance song because it reflected their mood. But the SS also often forced the so-called Jewish song to be sung . Soviet prisoners of war organized secret musical entertainment for themselves and others. One month after Ernst Thälmann's murder , political prisoners organized a secret event with readings, music, poems and songs about him.

The orchestra had to play during visits and there were other smaller bands in the Buchenwald main camp. In recent years around 25 concerts have taken place in the camp, which were attended by prisoners, SS men and the camp commandant.

Groß-Rosen concentration camp

In the Groß-Rosen concentration camp , a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp , there was a three-man band with a singer who had to play music for the prisoners on Sundays. At that time there was music for the entire camp, and all camp inmates had to step out of the barracks. In the summer of 1943 the block elders received the order to open the windows and all camp inmates had to sing loudly until it got dark. In the darkness you could see that the flames were burning up and it smelled of burned human flesh. The following morning it became known that Polish officers had been brought into the camp in two trucks and shot.

Neuengamme concentration camp

The prisoner orchestra of the Neuengamme concentration camp was initiated after a visit by the camp commandant to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was impressed by the prisoner orchestra there. The orchestra in Neuengamme played from 1940 until the end of this concentration camp and consisted of 25 people from France, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Germany.

Like most prisoner orchestras, it stood at the main gate in the evenings and mornings and played for the returning prisoners, and it also played during punishments and executions. It played old comrades in the cremation of the deceased in the night. The orchestra had to play operettas and hall music for the prisoners on the occasion of SS birthdays and festivals and on Saturday afternoons. Between 1942 and 1944 another orchestra with 60 to 80 musicians was founded, including the Czech musician Emil F. Burian. When a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp and the inmates were not allowed to leave the barracks, the orchestra played the song Concentrationaries . Some of the political prisoners composed and wrote battle songs, for example for Ernst Thälmann.

In Neuengamme there was a music theater in which performances a. a. also took place of pieces of music that were attended by both prisoners and SS guards.

Mauthausen concentration camp

Prisoners' chapel in the Mauthausen concentration camp

Until 1942, a small group of prisoners in the camp had to make music in the SS casino and on various occasions under the guidance of Wilhelm Heckmann , a German professional musician. At public executions they played hits and folk songs like Come back or All birds are already there .

In autumn 1942 it was decided to set up a larger camp orchestra. Willi Heckmann, Georg Streitwolf and Rumbauer were commissioned to do this. Streitwolf, the post office's kapo , ordered musical instruments from relatives of the camp inmates.

The orchestra grew through influx of v. a. Czech and Polish musicians had 60 members by 1944. The repertoire now also included Beethoven , Schubert , Smetana , Bruckner and other classics. The musical quality increased considerably in 1944 when 20 musicians from the Warsaw Philharmonic came to the camp. In the spring of 1944, the orchestra was disbanded and only one group of wind players of brass instruments had in the morning and in the evening at the camp entrance play. In January 1945, when Heinrich Himmler visited the camp, the large orchestra was reactivated. There were a few smaller bands playing music in the barracks. Left-wing prisoners organized poetry and music events, and a 25-man Czech choir was formed, which also played on prisoners' birthdays and sang about everyday camp topics. The Czechs also sang songs of resistance. An international group formed a jazz band in the summer of 1944 .

After the war , Mikis Theodorakis set the Mauthausen trilogy to music, based on four poems by the playwright Iacovos Kambanellis, which became well known in Israel for peace and international cooperation.

Theresienstadt concentration camp

In Theresienstadt, the children's opera Brundibár (German: “The Bumblebee”) was played 55 times, which at times gave the children back normality and joy. The opera (premiered in 1941 in the Jewish children's home in Prague ) was composed by Hans Krása based on a text by Adolf Hoffmeister in 1938. Krása had to write down the score from his memory in the concentration camp, as he could no longer access it from there. Because the actors were often deported to extermination camps, the opera roles had to be re-cast over and over again. The National Socialist propaganda shot the propaganda film Der Fuehrer gives the Jews a city using an excerpt from the children's opera to simulate normal and happy circumstances.

Leo Strauss wrote several songs and texts there, including the song Als ob .

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

In Bergen-Belsen concentration camp there were only sporadic secret music performances by individual prisoners who were musicians. This changed when the former camp commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp , Josef Kramer , took over command of Bergen-Belsen in December 1944 and when the women's orchestra came from Auschwitz-Birkenau to Bergen-Belsen a few months later. Kramer also had the Hungarian violinist Lily Mathé and the Dutch accordion player Flora Schrijver play for private purposes , which gave them better food and cigarettes.

Börgermoor concentration camp

The song Moorsoldaten was sung for the first time in 1933 by prisoners of the Börgermoor concentration camp . This concentration camp was mainly occupied by political opponents of the National Socialist regime who had to cultivate the moor there with spades. The reason for the creation of the Moorsoldatenlied was a nightly attack by SS men on two prisoner barracks in the Börgermoor concentration camp. The song was written by the miner Johann Esser and the actor and director Wolfgang Langhoff , the music was composed by Rudi Goguel . The song was performed on August 27, 1933 at an event by 16 prisoners, mostly former members of the Solingen workers' choir. All 1,000 camp inmates sang this song at the event, which was called “Zirkus Konzentrazani”. The song was banned shortly after by the camp administration. It spread and Hanns Eisler militantly rewrote it for Ernst Busch in exile in England . The song ends optimistically with ... Then the bog soldiers no longer drag their spades into the bog.

See also

  • Wilhelm Heckmann , accordionist of the first prisoner band and co-founder of the large prisoner orchestra in Mauthausen concentration camp

literature

  • Guido Fackler : "Make your own camp song ...". Song competitions in the concentration camp. In: Dietrich Helms, Thomas Phleps: Nobody will win. Popular music in competition. (= Contributions to popular music research. Volume 33). transcript, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 978-3-89942-406-5 , pp. 57–81 ( full text ; PDF; 256 kB).
  • Fania Fénelon : The Girls Orchestra in Auschwitz. dtv, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-423-01706-6 .
  • Sophie Fetthauer: Music and theater in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. On the cultural life of the Jewish displaced persons 1945–1950. von Bockel Verlag, Neumünster 2012, ISBN 978-3-932696-91-6 .
  • Gabriele Knapp: Women's voices. Musicians are reminiscent of Ravensbrück. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-936411-30-1 .
  • Szymon Laks : Music in Auschwitz. Translated by Mirka and Karlheinz Machel, ed. and with an afterword by Andreas Knapp. Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1998.
  • Inge Lammel (Ed.): Songs from the fascist concentration camps. Leipzig 1962.
  • Fred K. Prieberg: Music in the Nazi State. Brockhaus, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-596-26901-6 .
  • Stephan Stompor : Jewish music and theater life under the Nazi state. European Center for Jewish Music, Hanover 2001.

Movie

  • Herbert Thomas Mandl Traces to Theresienstadt / Tracks to Terezín. (Interview: Herbert Gantschacher ; camera: Robert Schabus; editing and design: Erich Heyduck) / DVD German / English; ARBOS, Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt 2007

Web links

Commons : prisoner orchestra in Nazi camps  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Review of Gabrielle Knapp: Frauenstimmen. Musicians remember Ravensbrück , accessed on October 31, 2009.
  2. ↑ a b c David Schwackenbert: Music in concentration camps. At www.shoa.de, accessed on October 31, 2009.
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
  4. ↑ a b Düsseldorf Regional Court: Treblinka trial judgment of September 3, 1965, 8 I Ks 2/64 ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 31, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.holocaust-history.org
  5. ^ Samuel Willenberg: Treblinka camp. Revolt. Escape. Warsaw Uprising. Unrast-Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-89771-820-3 , p. 223.
  6. ^ Willenberg: Treblinka camp . P. 144.
  7. ^ Richard Glazar: Trap with a Green Fence: Survival in Treblinka. Northwestern University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-810-11169-1 , p. 117. (English)
  8. ↑ Biography of Jerzy Peterburski , accessed on October 31, 2009 (English)
  9. ↑ Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Exhibition PDF
  10. ↑ Information on freiklick.at , accessed on November 1, 2009.
  11. ↑ Buchenwald concentration camp. Music during the Holocaust  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 31, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / typo3.ort.org  
  12. ^ Concentration camp Gross-Rosen: Music during the Holocaust.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 31, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / typo3.ort.org  
  13. ↑ Neuengamme concentration camp. Music during the Holocaust ( Memento of the original dated November 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 31, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / typo3.ort.org
  14. ^ Klaus Stanjek: Music and Murder - A professional musician in Mauthausen. Ed .: Baumgartner, Girstmeier, Kaselitz. Vienna, p. 93.
  15. ^ Klaus Stanjek: Music and Murder - A professional musician in Mauthausen. Ed .: Baumgartner, Girstmeier, Kaselitz. Vienna, p. 94.
  16. ^ Kurt Lettner : Music between life and death. In: Oberösterreichische Heimatblätter , 2000 issue 1/2, pp. 55–72, online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at
  17. ↑ Four poems: Mauthausen by Iakovos Kambanellis ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 1, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mikis-theodorakis.net
  18. ↑ My (Theodorakis) encounter with Kambanellis ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 1, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mikis-theodorakis.net
  19. ↑ Mauthausen concentration camp. Music during the Holocaust  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 31, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / typo3.ort.org  
  20. ↑ Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Music during the Holocaust  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 31, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / typo3.ort.org  
  21. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyN-oAby5VI