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Defiant Requiem: Creative and Spiritual Resistance in the Terezin Ghetto

February 15, 2022 | 3:30pm CDT

Virtual

What is resistance? How has creative expression functioned as a meaningful form of resistance for Jews during the Holocaust? Educators will explore the remarkable story of conductor Rafael Schächter who demonstrated moral leadership in the Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto by enriching his fellow prisoners’ lives through music. Schächter’s most extraordinary act was to recruit 150 prisoners and teach them by rote Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, using a single score over multiple rehearsals, after grueling days of forced labor. They sang the Requiem 16 times for fellow prisoners. Their last performance occurred on June 23, 1944 before high-ranking SS officers from Berlin and the International Red Cross. The Germans had organized this event as part of a propaganda charade to conceal the reality of life and death in Terezín and its role in the genocide of Europe’s Jews. Educators will analyze the choices Jews made to engage in creative resistance in this context. Participants will come away with primary sources and resources for students to engage deeply with this tragic history.

Presented by Susan Shapiro, Katie Prange, and Sara Kimble

In partnership with Defiant Requiem Foundation

Photo credits: Defiant Requiem Foundation

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