Out of the Depths Have I Cried: Aesthetic Opposition at the Gateway to Auschwitz

Abstract

Terezin, the gateway to Auschwitz, a town commandeered by the Nazis to serve as a “model” relocation camp to demonstrate the Third Reich's generosity and kindness toward the Jews, was an elaborate hoax. In an environment where truth was twisted beyond recognition, artists, writers, actors, and musicians used their work to revive the spirits of the condemned and to leave a legacy of truth in the face of an insidious lie. The arts became the foundation for a “curriculum” that shaped the lives of the inmates surviving in hell.