Page 51 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Music in Terezín: Cultural Continuity in Extreme Conditions
and in a number of cases, they were also the ones who saved the scores
4
from destruction. Among the most important figures were the pianists
Juliette Arányi (1911–1944?), Alice Herz-Sommer (1903–2014), Bernard
Kaff (1905–1944), Gideon Klein (1919–1945), Karel Taube (1897–1944), Renée
Gärtner-Geiringer (1908–1944), Edith Steiner-Kraus (1913–2013), and Kar-
el Reiner (1910–1979). Prominent singers included Bedřich Borges (1909–
1992), Hedda Grab-Kermayer (1899–1989), Marion Podolier (1906–1975),
David Grünfeld (1914–1963), Harry “Hambo” Heymann (1907–1995), Walter
Windholz (1907–1944), and Karel Berman (1919–1995). The ranks of conduc-
tors were represented by Karel Ančerl (1908–1973), Franz Eugen Klein (1912–
1944), Rafael Schächter (1905–1944), Karl Fischer (1893–1944), and Robert
Brock (1905–1979). Other important instrumentalists were Egon Ledeč
(1889–1944), Karel Fröhlich (1917–1994), Paul Kling (1928–2005), and Heinz
Jakob “Coco” Schumann (1924–2018).

Cultural Preludes to Theresienstadt
The cultural life of the Theresienstadt ghetto, established in November 1941,
had its beginnings in events that had taken place in the Protectorate capi-
tal several months earlier, following 15 March 1939. In Prague, against the
backdrop of increasing persecution, there developed a tradition of clandes-
tine home concerts and study circles. These activities were often concealed
not only from public view, but above all from the scrutiny of the occupation
authorities. They represented a spontaneous response to the systematic ex-
clusion of the Jewish population from public life: from orchestras, schools,
concert halls, and publishing houses. Their protagonists – musicians, com-
posers, visual artists, and teachers – strove to preserve creative activity at a
time when they were denied the right to perform publicly. Musical evenings
held in private apartments in Prague or Brno took the form of semi-legal
gatherings. Their programmes included not only chamber concerts but also
discussions, poetry readings, and improvised lectures. Several testimo-
nies and concert programmes have been preserved, yet due to the informal

4 At the same time, it should be remembered that a significant number of composi-
tions have not been preserved. Fragments, lost, or even hypothetical works occupy
an inseparable place in the cultural memory of the Theresienstadt ghetto. The rea-
sons for these losses were various: they may have been connected with deportations
to extermination camps in the East, with insufficient archival resources, or with the
chaos of the final days of the war. Some performances also had a more occasional
and informal character, and the hastily written compositions were not preserved.

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