Foundation for Jewish Studies
Synagogue Bulletin for July 2010
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
7:30 pm
The Kennedy Center
Washington, DC
Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat and Fran Eizenstat are hosting, along with Honorary Host Elie Wiesel, a remarkable multi-media concert/drama created by Murry Sidlin, on October 6, 2010 at 7:30 pm, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, as well as an extensive educational follow-up. This honors the 16 courageous performances of the famous Verdi Requiem Mass by a Jewish prisoner choir organized by a fellow Jewish prisoner, Rafael Schachter, in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II. The last performance was before Adolph Eichmann and the International Red Cross, after which Schachter and most of the choir were sent to Auschwitz. It is a moving story of Jewish defiance and courage, the best of humankind emerging among the worst of humankind. Schechter told the choir that “We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.” This program is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for Humanities. It is sponsored by the governments of Israel, Austria, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, and by the entire bipartisan leadership of Congress, as well as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Tickets are now on sale at the Kennedy Center. Holocaust survivors will be given complementary tickets.
Rachel Berman
Program Coordinator
The Foundation for Jewish Studies
6101 Montrose Road, Suite 206
Rockville, MD 20852
phone 301-770-4787
fax 301-770-4509
www.foundjs.org