Week-end to Terezin I. Music from a lost generation

The story of what happened in the Terezín (Thereiesienstadt in German) concentration camp from 1941-5 is one of the most remarkable of the Second World War. The invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 left the Jewish population at the mercy of their Nazi occupiers. The Terezín camp was set up towards the end of 1941 and over a period of 4 years, 140.000 Jews passed through the camp. 20.000 survived, some died at Terezín, most were transported to the East and gassed at Auschwitz. Run by the Jews themselves, Terezín housed much of the Czech cultural elite. Musicians (including the celebrated conductor Karel Ančerl, who survived the war), artists, writers and designers were allowed by the Nazis to organise their own activities. The frequency and quality of cultural activities taking place there was astonishing. The Nazis, seeing the potential…