Brundibár, the children’s opera by Czech composer Hans Krása (1899–1944), is the story of two children who go to town to seek some milk to help their sick mother. When they arrive the children are bullied by the Brundibár, a mean adult who plays the organ grinder and takes the children’s money. To fight back against the overbearing Brundibár the children seek the help of the town’s young people—along with three fairy-tale animals—to make the town square a safe place again. The piece was performed in 1942 by the children of Prague’s Jewish orphanage, and then presented with child singers in the Terezín concentration camp 55 times during World War II. A performance of Brundibár was a central part of an International Red Cross visit to Terezín in 1944, and sections of the work were later included in a Nazi propaganda film. In 2003 a third version of work was produced with a new English adaptation of the text by Tony Kushner. The composer and many of the original performers were killed before the conclusion of the war; however, one survivor, Ela Weissberger, who performed the role of the Cat in the Terezín production, now lives in the United States and often visits productions to speak about her experiences and help contextualize the work. Brundibár remains a moving and powerful work of art, both as a children’s opera and as a symbol of resistance against the Nazi regime, but it presents many logistical and artistic challenges to directors and producers who may be interested in mounting a production. This project will provide some background on the work, including the circumstances of its creation and performance history. It will then lay out the work’s unique performance challenges and offer practical solutions to make the process of designing, rehearsing, and performing Brundibár more accessible and effective.

W.G. Sebald’s final novel Austerlitz is often framed as a work of “postmemorial” Holocaust fiction. While trauma theory has generated valuable insights about the novel, its emphasis on witnessing (or failing to bear witness) tends to elide other important aspects of the text, most notably the careful attention Austerlitz brings to bear on physical things, spaces, and structures. This essay draws on recent work in object-oriented philosophy to suggest a new theoretical framework for reading Sebald’s last novel. Taking Austerlitz’s meticulous descriptions of the physical world as my starting point, I trace how the text cultivates what Jane Bennett calls a “vital materialism,” or a theory of matter that attends to the vitality of nonhuman objects. Instead of reading ‘through’ these descriptions for what goes unrepresented (“the main scenes of horror,” in Sebald’s phrase), I examine how the novel’s attention to physical surfaces troubles the distinction between material things and immaterial processes like subjectivity, memory, and affective response. Viewed in this light, I suggest that we might understand Sebald’s ‘surface readings’ not as a failure to get beyond the surface to the depths, but as part of an alternative archival practice—one that facilitates, in turn, different modes of ethical engagement. / text

This  thesis  offers  a  comparative  study  of  the  My  Lai  massacre  perpetrated  by  American soldiers during the Vietnam in War and the  massacre in Bialystok  carried out by a police unit operating  under the Nazi regime. Using theories from social  psychology in combination witha  careful  scrutiny  of  sources  from  criminal  investigations,  it  seeks  to  elucidate  the  social mechanisms  of  perpetration  in  the  two  cases  and  explores  how  their  divergent  macro-level contexts facilitated  distinctions in the perpetrator’s behavioural patterns and motivations. The study  demonstrates  that  despite  commonalities  at  the  micro  level,  the  massacres  were organized  in  distinctive  ways,  featured  divergent  perpetrator  behavioural  patterns  andencompassed  disparities  in  the  number  of  abstainers  due  to  different  macro-level  contexts. The  thesis provides  explanations  for these case variations, and it  argues  that new insight into the phenomenon of perpetration can be gained by adopting a comparative perspective.

This thesis aims to analyze the ways many Jewish victims of the Holocaust used comedic theatre to help them overcome their dire circumstances by exploring the high demand for comedic performance in both the ghettoes and concentration camps and analyzing the numerous comedic works that were penned amidst the terror and catastrophic loss surrounding the Jews at this time. The second portion delves into the therapeutic values of comedy and explores the ways laughing may have benefitted those who partook in comedic theatre events. The final chapter investigate whether or not laughter should still be used to help cope with the calamitous events of the Holocaust. Many Jewish victims chose to laugh about their circumstances, but should we, those far removed from the actual events, be able to use comedy without facing a dilemma of morals?

This dissertation combines a sustained reflection on the European and North American Post-Holocaust theological landscape with the themes of otherness, exclusion, and identity. The study aims to offer a constructive contribution toward ecclesiology in a post-Holocaust world riven with a rejection of otherness. The consensus among Holocaust scholars is that the moral failure of the churches to engage on behalf of the vast majority of victims of the Third Reich evinces a profound sickness at the heart of the Christian faith. Both Holocaust theologians and ecclesial statements have made notable strides towards diagnosing and curing this illness through proposals to radically reshape Christian theology in the shadow of Holocaust atrocities. However, rarely have these proposals outlined revisions in the realm of practical theology, specifically relating to ecclesiology and how the Christian community might live as church in the post-Holocaust era. This study conducts an interdisciplinary analysis of dominant trends within post-Holocaust theology through the hermeneutical lens of the propensity to abandon, dominate, or eliminate the Other. It argues that the leitmotif of post-Holocaust proposals for revision, i.e. the refutation of antisemitism and a renewed emphasis on Christian/Jewish solidarity, is potentially an exacerbation of the problem of otherness rather than a corrective. Chapter one cultivates a conceptual lens of a rejection of otherness, highlighting its pervasiveness and its deleterious implications for Christian churches. Chapter two surveys a wide range of post-Holocaust ecclesial statements as well as reflections by Holocaust theologians in order to portray the churches’ own perception of their role during the Holocaust and how they have begun to reformulate Christian theology and practice in this light. Chapter three analyzes three dominant trends that come to light when the post-Holocaust landscape is assessed through the lens of otherness. Chapter four explores dynamics of Christian and ecclesial identity as a framework for the cultivation of multi-dimensional identities which make space for the Other. Finally, chapter five will briefly envision some ecclesial characteristics and practices that might better equip churches with the moral resources to resist a rejection of otherness and build an ethical responsibility for the Other into the core of ecclesial identity.

Thesis advisor: Susan Michalczyk / This 2005-2006 Senior Honors Thesis is the story of Holocaust survivor Edgar Krasa and his experience in the Nazi concentration camps. As a human, I felt it was my duty to share his remarkable account with the world. As a writer, I have sought to leave him with something tangible, a small tribute to the suffering he endured. I have attempted to maintain a delicate balance between research and storytelling, as Mr. Krasa's story exists in the context of the theoretical framework I have studied. This work is not meant to speak only of gas chambers, death marches, bitter cold, and death. Rather, it stands as a testament to human loyalty, hope, determination, and unwavering belief in life. It is meant to expose the depths and resilience of the human soul. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Esta dissertação reconstitui a trajetória da família de Nissim, Streia e Vivetta Eskenazy, judeus sefaraditas sérvios, sobreviventes da Segunda Guerra Mundial. A primeira parte da pesquisa (Raízes) traz a história de quatro famílias tipicamente sefaraditas, Eskenazy, Ozmo, Russo e Romano, os antepassados de Nissim e Streia, desde meados do século XIX até antes da Segunda Guerra Mundial. A segunda parte da pesquisa (Ruptura) procura esclarecer o processo histórico que deu origem à invasão nazista na Iugoslávia, a partir de seis de abril de 1941 e quais podem ter sido as ações e decisões dos Eskenazy nesse período. A terceira parte da pesquisa (Travessia ou Travessias?) traz o detalhamento dos percursos dos Eskenazy em busca de um porto-seguro durante a guerra. A quarta e última parte da pesquisa (Refúgio) detalha a busca de refúgio dos Eskenazy após a guerra e, finalmente, como chegaram ao Brasil. Além de colaborar com o arquivo de testemunhos do ArqShoah, da Universidade de São Paulo, nossa pesquisa é inédita em termos de língua portuguesa, pois o judaísmo e o Holocausto na Iugoslávia foram, até hoje, pouco estudados e debatidos para além das suas fronteiras e, em casos esporádicos, em Israel. Para colaborar com esse debate, além dos quatro capítulos centrais da dissertação, apresentamos em anexo uma história resumida do judaísmo na região. / This thesis reconstructs the trajectory of the family of Nissim, Streia and Vivetta Eskenazy, Serbian Sephardic Jews, survivors of Second World War. The first part of the document (Roots) tells the story of four typically Sephardic families, Eskenazy, Ozmo, Russo and Romano, the ancestors of Nissim and Streia, from the mid-19th century until Second World War eve. The second part of the document (Rupture) tries to clarify the historical process that gave rise to the Nazi invasion in Yugoslavia in April 6, 1941 and what may have been the actions and decisions of the Eskenazy in that period. The third part of the document (Crossing or Crossings?) details the Eskenazy routes in search of a safe haven during the war. The fourth and final part of the document (Refuge) details the Eskenazy search for refuge after the war, and finally how they arrived in Brazil. In addition to collaborating with the ArqShoah testimonial archive from Universidade de Sçao Paulo, our research is unprecedented in terms of Portuguese language, since Judaism and the Holocaust in Yugoslavia have until now been little studied and debated beyond its borders and, in sporadic cases, in Israel. To support this debate, in addition to the four central chapters of the thesis, we have attached a brief history of Judaism in the region.

This thesis explores the experiences of a South Florida klezmer ensemble known as the Holocaust Survivor Band. The group was co-founded by Saul Dreier, then an 89-year-old resident of Coconut Creek, Florida, and Reuwen "Ruby" Sosnowicz, 85 years old at the time, a Delray Beach, Florida, resident, in April 2014. Dreier was inspired to form a musical ensemble of Holocaust survivors after reading about the death of pianist and fellow Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer. Ruby's daughter Chana Sosnowicz joined the band as lead singer, and Holocaust survivor descendant Jeff Black joined as a guitar player. In sum, I tell the story of the Holocaust Survivor Band, a contemporary musical ensemble representative of a historically significant era. I emphasize the group's ability to represent the Holocaust era to present-day audiences. To demonstrate this, the ensemble's experiences are portrayed through statements and information from the band members themselves, through descriptions in various articles and media, through my observations of their performances and rehearsals, and through my interpretations of all these source materials. Based on this content, I present some generalizations about the band's significance. One of my more obvious conclusions is that the band serves as musical witnesses to the Holocaust by using their performances to remind people of the period and to share their life stories. As a result, the group contributes to the historical and collective memory of the Holocaust. This in turn can evoke nostalgic feelings within the band and audience, thus further establishing connections to the past. In addition, the band seeks to prevent genocide from happening again by promoting a message of peace in their music, particularly through their song "Peace for the World." Most importantly, Dreier and Sosnowicz are finding joy in music again after not playing or performing for a long time. All of this exemplifies how the ensemble has impacted both its members and those around them. / A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 1, 2016. / Florida, Holocaust, klezmer, music, musicology, oral history / Includes bibliographical references. / Frank Gunderson, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Bakan, Committee Member; Douglass Seaton, Committee Member.

A dissertação apresenta obras judaicas do compositor Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Das obras selecionadas, foram focalizados unicamente os textos que as integram, incluindo-se as reflexões do autor sobre cada um dos temas envolvidos: os princípios da religião judaica, a sociedade à época, a Shoá e a criação do Estado de Israel. A pesquisa revelou um aspecto importante: a crença de Schoenberg em Deus foi a base para várias de suas composições, conforme afirma o autor em diversos escritos e cartas. A partir desses escritos e cartas também foi possível montar um quadro do pensamento do autor sobre a época em que viveu, de constantes transformações. Schoenberg foi um grande agente das transformações musicais desse período, além de expressar claramente sua visão como cidadão e como judeu na Alemanha nazista anterior a Segunda Guerra Mundial. / The dissertation presents Jewish texts of the compositor Arnold Schoenberg (1874- 1951). From the selected works of his, the focus was just on the texts that were part of them, including the authors reflections about each one of the related themes: the principles of the Jewish religion, the society at the time, the Shoa (the Holocaust) and the creation of the state of Israel. The research revealed an important aspect: the faith of Schoenberg in God was the base for several of his compositions, according to his writings and letters. From these writings also was possible to elaborate a picture of the way of thinking of the author about his times that was full of changes. Schoenberg was a big agent in the musical transformation in this period, and he also expressed himself clearly about his vision as a citizen and Jewish in the Nazi German before the Second World War.

O presente trabalho visa compreender a vida de Victor Klemperer (1881 1960) durante a Alemanha Nazista e através de seus relatos entender as condições em que a sociedade alemã esteve submetida. Filólogo de formação, alemão e judeu assimilado, convertido ao Protestantismo ainda jovem, Victor Klemperer sofreu todo tipo de humilhação ao longo dos anos do regime nazista na Alemanha. O casamento com Eva Klemperer lhe reiterou sua germanidade, visto que Eva era ariana. O que pensara ser uma loucura passageira, aos poucos foi se tornando um pesadelo desanimador e angustiante; eram constantes os pensamentos de morte e a depressão em relação ao cotidiano vivido. Tudo se intensifica quando ele perde sua cátedra de romanística na Universidade Técnica de Dresden e, somado a isso, também foi destituído de todos os direitos associados à cidadania alemã. Este trabalho busca entender, através de seus escritos, a realidade de um judeu que testemunhou de perto as atrocidades do regime nazista. As fontes aqui analisadas são seus diários escritos de 1933-1945 e sua obra LTI (Lingua Tertii Imperti) publicada no pós-guerra. A peculiaridade de seus escritos está no fato de Klemperer não ter emigrado da Alemanha durante o Nazismo, em contraponto às obras de caráter autobiográfico produzidas sobre esse período. / The present work tends to comprehend the life of Victor Klemperer (1881 1960) during Nazi Germany and, through his reports, to understand the conditions in which German society was submitted. Philologist by formation, German and assimilated Jewish, converted to Protestantism still young, Victor Klemperer suffered every kind of humiliation during the years of the Nazi polity in Germany. His marriage to Eva Klemperer reaffirmed his germaneness, for Eva was Arian. What he thought to be a passing madness soon became a discouraging and distressful nightmare; constant were the thoughts of death and depression in relation to the everyday living. Everything intensifies when he loses his romanistic chair at the Dresden Technical University and, summed to this, he was also destituted from the associated rights to German citizenship. This work seeks to understand, through his writings, the reality of a Jewish who closely witnessed the atrocities of the Nazi polity. The fonts here analyzed are his diaries written between 1933 and 1945 and his work LTI (Lingua Tertii Imperii) published in the post-war. The peculiarity of his writings is in the fact that Klemperer has not emigrated from Germany during Nazism, in counterpoint to the autobiographic compositions produced in this period.