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Episode 9: Food as Power

Terezin, Starving People by Norbert Troller
Drawing of starving people scrounging for food scraps at Theresienstadt by Norbert Troller, 1942. Troller pointed out that the elderly, who were not able to work in the camp, were also given far fewer food rations than others. LBI Arts & Object Collection, 82.273.

You may have heard of the transit camp Theresienstadt as a place of hope and resilience throughout the Holocaust. But the music, art, and recipes found in the Czech ghetto after the war only tell one part of the story. Today, historian Anna Hájková, author of The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt, joins Mark to discuss the complexities of life at Theresienstadt, including class structure, the barter system, and most importantly, food.

LBI Presents is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York | Berlin and Antica Productions.

Hosted by Mark Oppenheimer.

Executive Producers include Laura Regehr, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producer is Emily Morantz. Associate audio editor is Cameron McIver. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson.