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RESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONS

Norbert Troller, Jedermann - Theater Performance at the Magdeburg Barracks, Theresienstadt, 1942.
Norbert Troller, Jedermann: Theater Performance at the Magdeburg Barracks, Theresienstadt, 1942. LBI, 82.327. Jedermann (Everyman) was a play by Hugo von Hoffmansthal. It is the story of a rich man who loses everything: his friends, his wealth, and his lover. This story of loss had clear resonance for the Jews in the ghetto.
RESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONSRESPONSES AND ADAPTATIONS
Group including Leo Baeck at Emil Utitz's lecture; Theresienstadt, 1944.
Group including Leo Baeck at Emil Utitz’s lecture, Theresienstadt, 1944. LBI, F 1724. This image is a still shot from the Nazi propaganda movie and was a part of the intended deception. At the time, when thousands of prisoners were deported to Auschwitz every month, about six programs still happened daily in Theresienstadt. Half of them were lectures.
Unknown artists, Theresienstadt. Courtyard, ca. 1943. LBI, 84.504.
Unknown artist, Theresienstadt Courtyard, ca. 1943. LBI, 84.504. The Nazis deported a disproportionately high number of artists to Theresienstadt. This resulted in numerous artworks produced in the camp. The artists in the ghetto were allowed to create, but their official work was censored. Therefore, some of the images we have of the ghetto today are bucolic and peaceful, not showing the reality, whereas others were done in secret.
Norbert Troller, An Old Woman Praying, 1942. LBI, 82.303.
Norbert Troller, An Old Woman Praying, 1942. LBI, 82.303.


Jews in Theresienstadt were exposed to enormous adversity, stress, and trauma. Some coped with the situation by turning to religion, art, music, and other forms of cultural expression. In addition to reading and lectures, these activities provided a means to connect to their pre-war lives and identities and to fill spare time. They could also serve as a rejection of the Nazi aim to dehumanize Jews. For those who could gain access to a performance, it was a welcome escape from reality.

At the same time, incarceration and poor conditions in the camp deprived prisoners of their freedom and their basic physical needs, but also their social, cultural, and intellectual status. Most of the prisoners belonged to the middle class before the war. Outings to the theater, opera, and coffee houses had been regular activities in their lives. Now these were rare and special events, often taking place in primitive conditions. Art and culture remained a way to confirm one’s former social status and display national loyalties.