Kovno

The first weeks of the ghetto’s existence were marked by a wave of mass murders, which targeted in particular the ‘unproductive’ members of the community, especially the elderly and children.  The Nazis also aimed to destroy the cultural and intellectual strength of the community, targeting schools, synagogues, cultural centres and the ghetto intelligentsia.  The ghetto immediately began to rebuild, however, and several illegal schools, a hospital, a religious network and several musical and theatre groups were established.

In the summer of 1942, the ghetto police orchestra came into existence.  Made up of 35 instrumentalists and five singers, the orchestra was led by the conductor Michael Hofmekler.  Over the course of the ghetto’s existence, approximately 80 concerts were performed.  From their inception, these concerts, as well as the other forms of organised entertainment, were highly controversial.  In the early months, with most inmates still reeling from the loss of family and friends, many found the idea of entertainment in any form a sacrilege, disrespectful to the lives that had been lost.  They felt it was unseemly to hold concerts in what was now a permanent place of mourning and perceived these concerts as being solely for the ghetto elite.  The first concert opened with a moment of silence, followed by ‘Kol Nidre’, and the programme emphasised serious and solemn music.  The early objections gradually disappeared as inmates recognised the value of music for mourning and commemoration, as well as for raising morale.  Convinced of the importance of music for survival, the young inmate Tamara Lazerson wrote in her diary in December 1942:

As a diversion, concerts are being held in the ghetto … there are some excellent singers and poets, and that is how people forget where they are for one night, transporting themselves to an entirely different world.  Although some people object to what they are doing, they are wrong.

In addition to musical performances, a large number of songs were composed and sung in the ghetto, many of them consisting of new lyrics set to pre-existing melodies. Important songwriters included Avrom Akselrod and Moshe Diskant.  The songs express the suffering, hope, and despair of the inmates.  Although many were lost, thanks to the efforts of the council, several survived.  Reflecting on the importance of this ‘folk genre’ for the inhabitants of the ghetto, one young man observed in his diary:

A ghetto song most often begins with the pain and suffering of the Jewish people and ends with the hope of better things, of a bright and happy future.

The cultural activities of Kovno’s Jews were to come to an abrupt end with the final destruction of the ghetto.  Throughout the autumn and winter of 1943, thousands were selected for deportation and murder, and the ghetto was converted into a concentration camp.  Many resistance fighters found hiding places, and hundreds were smuggled out to join partisan groups in forests.  In July 1944 the camp was evacuated, its remaining survivors sent to Dachau and Stutthof.

The survivors of the Kovno ghetto played a central role in the post-war organisation of Jewish life, particularly in the Displaced Persons’ camps, and the meeting of Jewish DPs on 27 May 1945 included a concert by the former Kovno ghetto orchestra.

Sources

Königseder, A. & Wetzel, J., 2001. Waiting for Hope: Jewish Displaced Persons in Post-World War II Germany, Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.  

Laqueur, W. ed., 2001. The Holocaust encyclopedia, New Haven: Yale University Press.  

USHMM, E. ed., 1997. Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto, Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Bulfinch Press.