Approaching Death: ‘Last Writing’ from the Terezín Ghetto

Abstract

The Theresienstadt ghetto, a place called the ‘anteroom to hell’ by its inmates, was a space of writing in extremis. A daily life of suffering brought forward distinct ways of coming to terms with and working against the constant presence of death. While most private poetry and also letters followed a poetics of realism in order to grasp ‘Überleben’ rather than ‘Leben’, writing aimed at larger audiences sought to provide spaces of normality. Lectures and cabaret performances thus offered illusion and escape, both for performers and audience. Some works from the ghetto, such as Der Kaiser von Atlantis, also point to the danger of writing as harmless outlet for resistance, precluding necessary action. This article thus situates Theresienstadt’s writing in extremis between ‘spiritual survival’, ‘Resistenz’, and call for action.