Music and the Holocaust

The Nazi accession to power affected musicians from every corner of German society, and numerous well-known composers, conductors, musicologists, instrumentalists, and singers were affected by the Party’s increasingly repressive actions and legislation.

While some musicians chose to go into ‘inner exile’ or to leave Germany altogether, others adapted themselves in varying ways to the reality of Nazi control, serving in Nazi musical organisations or agreeing to commissions for new works.

As the Nazi net expanded across Europe after 1938, countless additional musicians became subject to Nazi repression, and many of those who had been prominent in musical activities before the war continued their work in the ghettos and the camps.

Many talented musicians and composers had their careers—and lives—disrupted or destroyed by the Nazi regime. Some of Jewish Europe’s most promising musical careers ended in the ‘model ghetto’ Theresienstadt.