Chapter 9 Clara's story

Clara's War is a historical novel written for children.Although it is aimed at children's readers, the author has done a lot of academic research without any slack. Not only the historical background about the Second World War is true, but also the situation and what happened in this Jewish ghetto in the book is true, the art course of artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and performances of the children's opera Brundiba are also authentic.The details of life in the story are all the author interviewed the survivors and tried to restore them based on their memories.She just told these real stories through several fictional characters.

An important part of this story is how the children's opera Brundiba was performed in the Jewish ghetto established by the Nazis. The author of the opera, Hans Krasa (Hans Krasa), is a famous musician. He was born in Prague on November 30, 1899, in a family of German-Jewish lawyers.Hans Krassa showed a high musical talent since he was a child, and he was able to compose in the style of Mozart at an early age. At the age of eleven, his orchestral music was performed locally; in 1927, his symphony had been The Czech Symphony Orchestra performed in the capital Prague.Later, in Prague, he joined a group of German intellectuals who had in common a humanitarian stand against blind patriotism (to Germany) and a positive effort to treat them well and be treated well by them. Czechoslovakia, as its own homeland, has made its own contribution.He is enthusiastically devoted to music creation, and various forms of works are constantly staged. In 1933 one of his operas won the Czechoslovak State Prize.

When Nazi Germany occupied parts of the Czech Republic, there were 50,000 Germans like Hans Krassa in Prague's population of 900,000.As a member of the Jews persecuted by the Nazis, it was natural for him to join an organization that was formed jointly by anti-fascist artists and the Prague Jewish Orphanage. "Brundiba" is a children's opera he wrote for this orphanage.It was also the last work he wrote before being arrested by the Nazis. On August 10, 1942, he was sent to the Terezin ghetto as a prisoner, where he lost his name, number 21855. In an unimaginably harsh environment, under the shadow of death, Hans Krasa continued to create his own music. In 1942, he re-orchestrated his children's opera Brundiba using a piano score.Then, as described in this "Klara's War", "Brundiba" was staged in the ghetto, and the actors were all children as prisoners, for a total of fifty-five performances.Today, people find that this prisoner composer still has the wings of fantasy, and his newly composed opera even has the aesthetic feeling of modern music in the 20th century.

The real history is as told in "Klara's War": the concentrated residential area of ​​Terezin was once decorated and disguised by the Nazis to erase the truth.Hitler used this illusion to whitewash the Nazi's Jewish policy and cover up his crimes of massacring Jews from the International Red Cross. The performance of "Brundiba" once appeared in Nazi propaganda films. After the end of World War II, in the cultural atmosphere symbolized by "Brendiba", people did not accuse Hans Krasa of being "unsafe at the end of the day" and "conspiring" with the Nazis, but had deep feelings for musicians. tribute.

In such a culture, these special performances are not only the performance of a musical opera, but also the expression of a philosophy of life.In Terezin, artists are insisting on normal creation and teaching, and scholars are insisting on their academic lectures. They not only show the immortality and imagination of life itself not only for the children in the concentrated residential area, but also for the people living today and in the future. The immortality of power and creativity demonstrates the need to maintain a peaceful mind and intelligent thinking, and expresses the eternal pursuit of beauty.All of this is exactly what the Nazis of the past, the evil forces of today and the future are trying to destroy, but will never be able to destroy.On the contrary, the simplification and conceptualization of thinking, no matter how righteous the proposition may be, is the breeding ground for evil.

On the night of October 16, 1944, Hans Krasa was transported from Terezin to Auschwitz, where he was murdered in the gas chamber.However, the joy and hope brought about by Hans Krassa's work remain in the world. In the translation, I was impressed that the author was able to take the details seriously and at the same time make a subtle description of the psychological reactions of the children in the concentrated living area at that time.Now, the author of "Klara's War" is writing such a true historical story for today's children; today, children in many countries are performing "Brundiba" over and over again every year, just to Everyone feels Hans Krassa's positive and optimistic attitude towards life, and also remembers and thinks about why such a history happened; it is to hope that the new generation can live a healthy life both physically and mentally. Through their efforts, they will not be in another place, the tragedy of children like this happens again.