Cultural Activity in the Holocaust

doi:10.1017/9781108900447.013

10 - Cultural Activity in the Holocaust

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2025

Samuel Kassow

Edited by

Marion Kaplan and

Natalia Aleksiun

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Marion Kaplan: Affiliation:
New York University
Natalia Aleksiun: Affiliation:
University of Florida

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Summary

Even in the worst conditions, Jews needed to hear music, read books, attend lectures, watch actors perform, and participate in a myriad of cultural activities in order to connect to prewar values and memories. This chapter highlights the extraordinary cultural production of Jews in situations from cramped, dangerous ghettos, to the worst possible extremes, concentration and extermination camps. Jews stressed how much cultural activity helped them retain their psychological integrity and resist Nazi attempts to dehumanize them.

Keywords

theater concerts lectures salons plays actors readers library cabaret street songs music poetry art photography archives Yiddish Kulturbund (Kubu)OMIKE Warsaw Łódź Vilna (Vilnius)Theresienstadt Ringelblum

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of the Holocaust , pp. 163 - 184

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108900447.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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