November 1941: The Czech town of Terezín (Theresienstadt in German) begins use as a concentration camp by the Nazi regime. Among the people deported to this garrison town were numerous artists, who continued to write and perform in the camp. Terezín existed with a dual purpose. It was a ghetto that served as a transit point to the Nazi death camps. Additionally, it became the backdrop for a carefully constructed propaganda campaign which the Nazis used to deny the existence of the Final Solution. May 1945: the Nazis have transported 140,000 people to Terezin by this point – among them some of Europe’s most gifted artists, musicians, composers and writers who, despite the inhuman living conditions, sustained an active cultural community. Although art supplies, paper, musical instruments and performances themselves were contraband in the barracks, artists and composers relentlessly continued to work to create art and music. “By no means did we sit weeping on the banks of the waters of
