Brundibár - The Penultimate Act - Czechoslovakia

Year Published: 1965

Country of Origin: Germany

Description: 16mm Film - Brundibár - The Penultimate Act - BRD/Czechoslovakia 1965 Script and Direction: Walter Krüttner and Jindřich Fairaizl Camera: Alois Nožička Music: Hans Krása and Kantor Shalom Katz Cast: Adolf Hoffmeister, Zdeněk Ornest, Rudolf Franěk (alias Rudolf Freudenfeld), Josef Bor, Norbert Frýd, Children's Choir Troja under the direction of Václav Hudeček Solidarity and friendship triumph over evil - that is the message of the children's opera 'Brundibár'. It was performed 80 years ago in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The children's opera was performed 55 times in Theresienstadt, but only a few of the young singers survived the Nazi terror. Composer Hans Krása was also murdered in Auschwitz. He had already composed the singspiel in two acts in 1938, using a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister. In it, the siblings Pepicek and Aninka want to buy milk for their sick mother, but they have no money. They try to earn money by singing in the marketplace. This makes them unwanted competition for the organ grinder Brundibár. When he chases them away, the neighboring children come to their aid and together they drive away the evil organ grinder. The children's opera was intended as a contribution to a competition organized by the Czech Ministry of Education. In view of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Germany, the decision was never made. Hans Krása was also deported to Theresienstadt in August 1942; he had the piano reduction of his children's opera in his small luggage. The Theresienstadt ghetto was propagandized by the Nazis as a kind of 'model concentration camp'. When visiting groups from the International Red Cross registered, they were shown clean, almost homely accommodation. They had no idea that they were only not overcrowded because some of the prisoners had recently been deported to extermination camps...

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QMlifDhSP0

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