Audio Guide for Words, Music, Memory: (Re)presenting Voices of the Holocaust

Audio Guide for Words, Music, Memory: (Re)presenting Voices of the Holocaust

Holocaust Survivors

This audio guide includes an introduction and descriptions of each of the exhibit's ten panels.

Museum of History and Holocaust Education

Kennesaw State University

Museum of History and Holocaust Education

September 17, 2021

Adina Langer

Florian Armbruster

All Rights Reserved

mp3

English

German

Sound

Before the War

During the War

After the War

Words, Music, Memory: (Re)presenting Voices of the Holocaust
Is a ten-panel traveling exhibit. The design of the panels includes black title text on a purple background with a ribbon of five parallel orange lines running from the top of the panel, down and to the left of the title, above the subtitle from left to right, and then down the right side of the panel all the way to the bottom. The main body of each panel includes white text on a teal background and a captioned image and qr code on a purple background with a pattern of concentric ovals formed by light purple dots.

Panel One:
The title of the panel is Words, Music, Memory
The subtitle is (Re)presenting Voies of the Holocaust. The letters r and e of re are enclosed in parentheses.

The main body of the panel begins with a quotation. Quote:
Memory has its own language, its own texture,
its own secret melody, its own archeology and its
own limitations; it is up to us to rescue it and save
it from becoming cheap, banal, and sterile. End Quote.
– Elie Wiesel, Days of Remembrance Ceremony, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2003

Beneath the quote, the main body text reads:
Commemoration is a process that involves witness,
preservation, interpretation, and performance. This
process calls upon human creativity, commitment, emotional
connection, and contemporary context. Literature, music,
and performance work together to open a window across
space and time for generations to connect with one another.
Yet, none of this would be possible without the words
themselves. Writers choose to document their experiences
for an imagined reader in the future. Their writing—whether
poetry, diary entries, or memoir written later—bears witness
to their unique place and time. Then, through readers,
translators, archivists, composers, performers, and audience,
it is transmitted and transformed. Each person along this chain
breathes new life into the words. The result is living memory.
In this exhibit, you will meet eight writers. Here, you will
encounter their words and follow the links along the chain
of commemoration. We hope you will emerge inspired to
forge your own link in that chain that connects the past with
the future.

Beneath the main body text, there is a collage of color images of memorial spaces captioned:
Physical memorials to the Holocaust work as a visual and spatial metaphor, often attempting to create a
sense of the enormous scale of loss, disruption to the human landscape, and resilience of the Jewish people.Notice the techniques used in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Wall of Remembrance at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Garden of Stones by Andy Goldsworthy at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, NY. Courtesy Bill Cunningham, Library of Congress, CMKalina, and Meg Stewart

Moving from left to right, top to bottom, the images include a field of stone plinths with a city skyline in the background at sunset; a leafless tree coming out of small hole in a large stone; a view of four stones with leafy green trees rising from them; a group of ten stones with small trees rising out of them; a close-up of a field of stone plinths of differing sizes on cobblestone, with trees growing among them; and an interior image of a room with a very high ceiling, three visible walls covered entirely by framed portraits of individuals and groups with a doorway leading into a dark hallway beyond.

Beneath this collage of images is the black logo for Kennesaw State University Museums, Archives, and Rare Books, Museum of History and Holocaust Education. The logo consists of an interlocking K and S outlined in black. Beside the logo is a QR code captioned: Connect here to access a digital gallery guide for this exhibition.

Panel 2:
Franta Bass
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical details including the following:
• Born in Czechoslovakia,
1930
• Wrote in Theresienstadt
Ghetto, 1942–1944
• Died in Auschwitz, 1944
• Poetry published in I Never
Saw Another Butterfly
anthology, 1994

Beside the list is a color illustration of Franta Bass as a young boy with dark hair parted on the side, light skin with rosy cheeks, and warm light-brown eyes. The boy is wearing a blue sweater over a white shirt with a purple tie. The artistic style is mostly realistic but includes some visible brushwork and a depiction of light on a gray background behind the portrait consisting of concentric lighted circles. Illustration by Julia Guevara.

Beside the portrait is a poem:
The Garden
A little garden,
Fragrant and full of roses,
The path is narrow
And a little boy
walks along it.
A little boy, a sweet boy,
Like that growing blossom.
When the blossom comes to
bloom,
The little boy will be
no more.

Words by Franta Bass, translated from Czech by
Hana Volavková

To the right of the poem is an image of the book cover for I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. Expanded Second Edition with a Foreword by Chaim Potok. The book title is placed in a tan box with scalloped edges overlaid on one of the children’s drawings featured in the book. The drawing depicts a small village of tan-colored houses with red roofs set behind high walls, surrounded by green fields. The image is captioned: This collection, compiled by art historian Hana
Volavková and first published in 1994, inspired
choral works, plays, and song cycles, including
"I Never Saw Another Butterfly" by Lori Laitman.

Beneath the image caption is a QR code captioned: Connect here to learn more about Franta
Bass and how his poetry was preserved,
published, and performed.

Panel 3:
Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical details including the following:
• Born in Czernowitz,
Romania, 1924
• Wrote in Czernowitz,
1939–1942
• Died in the Michailowka
labor camp, 1942
• Poetry published in Harvest
of Blossoms: Poems From a
Life Cut Short, 2008

Beside the bulleted list is an artist’s portrait of Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger in which a female figure with closed eyes and her left hand supporting her cheek seems to emerge from a swirling purple mist. The figure has dark hair plaited into two braided buns on either side of her face and a white blouse with a black neckerchief. Illustration by Martha Hemingway.

To the left of the portrait is a poem:
: Lullaby
Sleep my child, my comfort
mine, / Sleep, and be done
with your crying. / You see,
in sleep all the world is
yours, / So what's the sense
in crying?
Shut your eyes tight and at
least sleep well, / Hear how
the woods blow wild!
/ In sleep no hatred, no
insult you'll get, / In sleep
you're not feeling the cold.
Sleep, my dear one, and
smile meanwhile, child,
/ The river will sing you a
song. / Sleep on, as the wind
will be singing of joy, / Of
lovely spring that's in bloom.
Sleep on, my gold, and
forget that which hurts,
/ Forget how gloomy's the
day. / The night becomes
bright when dreams take
you up, / So sleep, my life,
sleep away.
Words by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, translated from
German by Florian Birkmayer and Jerry Glenn

To the right of the poem is an image of sheet music for the first song, “Lullaby” within “In Sleep The World Is Yours” song cycle for soprano, oboe, and piano, commissioned by Music of Remembrance, Minna Miller, Artistic Director, by Lori Laitman. The sheet music includes the first eleven bars of the song with piano accompaniment at the bottom and lines for oboe and soprano above. The words “Sleep my child, just fall asleep, please sleep and don’t cry anymore. Just.” are written along the soprano line. The sheet music is captioned: Notice how the translation of the poem is slightly
different in this setting by Lori Laitman, 2013.
Courtesy Classical Vocal Reprints

Below the caption is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Selma
Meerbaum-Eisinger, how her poetry was
preserved, published, and included in a
song cycle by Lori Laitman.

Panel 4:
Anne Frank
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical details including the following:
• Born in Germany, 1929
• Wrote in Amsterdam,
1942–1944
• Died in Bergen-Belsen,
1945
• Diary published in Dutch,
1947, French and German,
1950, and English, 1952
• Translations in more than
70 languages as of 2021

Beside the list is a color illustration of Anne Frank as a young girl with dark blue-black hair, dark green eyes, pale skin, and a slightly buck-toothed smile. Anne is wearing a dark velvet dress with a starched collar and appears in front of a purple-hued background. Illustration by Julie Guevara.

To the left of the illustration is a diary entry which reads:
November 8, 1943: “I see the
eight of us in the Annex as
if we were a patch of blue
sky surrounded by menacing
black clouds. The perfectly
round spot on which we're
standing is still safe, but the
clouds are moving in on us,
and the ring between us
and the approaching danger
is being pulled tighter and
tighter. I can only cry out
and implore, ‘Oh, ring, ring,
open wide and let us out!’”
Words by Anne Frank, translated from Dutch by
Susan Massotty

To the right of the diary entry is a color stil from Anne No Nikki, 1995. Courtesy Madhouse. The image shows the figure of Anne in profile, seated at her writing desk in the room she shared in the “Secret Annex.” Anne is covering her face with her hands, her diary open in front of her. The walls of the small room are decorated with magazine pages and photos of movie stars, and light gently diffuses through the curtains that cover the window at the back of the room. Right beside the desk is a tiny bed covered with a green blanket. Another bed, neatly made with a checkered coverlet is directly behind Anne’s chair.
Below the image is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about
Anne Frank and how her diary was
preserved, published, and adapted
for new audiences through dramatic
interpretations including Anne no Nikki,
a Japanese animated film with a classical
soundtrack, first released in the United
States in 2020.

Panel 5:
Eva Heyman
Below the title is a bulleted list of biographical information including the following:
• Born on the border of
Hungary and Romania, 1931
• Wrote in Romania,
February–May 1944
• Forced to live in Oradea
Ghetto, May 1944
• Died in Auschwitz, October
1944
• Diary published, 1988
Beside the bulleted list is a color illustration of the seated figure of a girl, dark hair plaited into two braids. Her face is mostly obscured in a brownish fog. She is seated with one arm resting on her knee and one resting under her chin. In the foreground of the image, the front wheel and handlebars of a bicycle appear. Illustration by Martha Hemingway.

To the left of the image is a text panel with two diary entries.
April 7, 1944:"Today they came
for my bicycle. I almost
caused a big drama. You
know, dear diary, I was
awfully afraid just by the fact
that the policemen came into
the house."
May 1, 1944:“Aha, that’s why
we’re allowed outside only
between nine and ten,
because we’re being taken
to the Ghetto. Dear diary,
from now on I’m imagining
everything as if it really is a
dream. We started packing
exactly those things and
exactly in the quantity that
Agi read in the notice. I
know it isn’t a dream, but I
can’t believe a thing. We’re
also allowed to take along
bedding, and right now we
don’t know when they’ll
come to take us, so we can’t
pack the bedding. I’m busy
all day making coffee for
Uncle Bela, but Grandma
drinks cognac. Nobody says
a word. Dear diary, I’ve never
been so afraid.”

Words by Eva Heyman, translated from Hungarian by
Moshe M. Kohn

To the right of the text is an image in which the shape of a smartphone appears in the left with the words Eva.Stories What if a Girl in the Holocaust Had Instagram? The phone appears to be transparent, overlaid over a scene in a park with bear trees in which a girl wearing a blue berret and matching coat with a fur collar looks off to the left of the image. A yellow star has been sewn onto the right breast pocket of the coat. A color gradient from yellow to orange to pink to purple spreads across the entire image from left to right. The image is captioned: Eva.Stories promotion from the Webby Awards, 2020. Courtesy Monday.com

Beneath the image caption is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Eva
Heyman and how her diary was preserved,
published, and adapted for new audiences
through the creation of Eva.Stories, an
Instagram video series premiered in 2019.

Panel 6:
Krystyna Zywulska
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical details including:
• Born as Sonia Landau in
Łódz´, Poland, 1914
• Taken to Auschwitz as a
political prisoner under the
assumed identity Krystyna
Zywulska, 1943
• Wrote poetry in Auschwitz-
Birkenau, 1943–1944
• Liberated, 1945
• Published memoir,
I Survived Auschwitz, 1946
• Died in Dusseldorf,
Germany, 1993
To the right of the list is a color illustration depicting a young woman with light skin and a bright toothy smile. Her light-brown hair is swept into a wavy up-do. She is wearing a bright green button-down top and the background behind her is bright yellow. Illustration by Julia Guevara.

To the left of the illustration is a poem:
Soldiers
I do not need millions / Just
paper and a pencil. / (And
poetry, above all poetry.)
/ Letters are the only soldiers
we need.
An alphabet of warriors
standing / Shoulder to
shoulder. / Do not forget
us when you get older.
/ An alphabet of warriors
/ Like us, standing
Shoulder to shoulder
/ Threaded with the marrow
of memory / Into lines of
defense. / Shoulder to
shoulder. / Do not forget
us when you get older.
Words by Krystyna Zywulska, translated and adapted from
Polish by Gene Scheer

To the right of the poem is a still image depicting a woman wearing a red dressing gown seated at a desk beside a recording machine. The woman has her mouth open wide to sing and her arms raised, hands beside her face. Behind her three people look on: a man dressed in a striped shirt with an upside-down pink triangle sewn on the left breast pocket and two women wearing headscarves and dresses with sweater-vests. A lighted lamp appears in the foreground on the left. The image is captioned: Opera star Caitlin Lynch (seated) portrays Krystyna Zywulska,with ghosts from her memories of Auschwitz in the San
Francisco premiere of "Out of Darkness," 2016. Courtesy Music
of Remembrance

Beneath the image caption is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Krystyna
Zywulska, how her poetry and memoir
were published, and how her story of
survival, along with that of Gad Beck,
inspired composer Jake Heggie and
librettist Gene Scheer to create the opera
"Out of Darkness: Two Remain."

Panel 7:
Shmerke Kaczerginski
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical information including:
• Born in Vilna, Poland, 1908
• Wrote in Vilna 1929–1941
and Vilna Ghetto 1942–
1943, Paris, France, 1946–
1954
• Published the collection
Songs of the Ghettos and
Camps, 1948
• Died, airplane crash in
Argentina, 1954
To the right of the list is a color illustration depicting a man with a receding hairline and gaunt features, looking out and to the left. He appears to be in a sun-dappled forest, surrounded by a pinkish fog. Illustration by Martha Hemingway.

To the left of the image is a poem:
Yid du partizaner
(Jew, You Partisan)
From the ghetto prison
walls—
In the free forests,
Instead of chains on our
hands
I hold a new gun.
On the exercises my friend
Kisses my neck and
shoulders,
With the gun I haven’t just
today
Sturdily grown up.
We lack something in
numbers.
Boldness we have of millions,
In hill and valley we destroy
Bridges, troop trains.
The fascist becomes shaky,
Doesn’t know where or
when—
A storm arises from under
the earth—
Jewish-partisans.
Words by Shmerke Kaczerginski, translated from Yiddish
by Lawrence Berson

To the right of the poem is a color photo of a man playing a grand piano and a woman in front of him, playing a cello. The image is captioned: Laurence Sherr's cello sonata performance at a 2016 Kristallnacht commemoration concert. Inbal Megiddo, cello, Jian
Liu, piano, Wellington, New Zealand. Courtesy Laurence Sherr

Beneath the image caption is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Shmerke
Kaczerginski, how he wrote and collected
poetry and songs from the Holocaust,
and how his efforts inspired vocal and
instrumental compositions alike.

Panel 8:
Nelly Sachs
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical information including the following:
• Born in Germany, 1891
• Fled Germany for Sweden,
1940
• Wrote in Germany and
Sweden, 1920–1970
• Published first poetry
collection, In den
Wohungen des Todes (In
the Houses of Death), 1946
• Awarded Nobel Prize in
Literature, 1966
• Died in Sweden, 1970
To the right of the list is a color illustration depicting an elderly woman with short, wavy white hair with pinkish highlights. The woman has pale, lined skin with pink cheeks and light-brown eyes. Her lips are light orange. She is wearing a bright pink sweater and a pearl necklace. The background behind her is deep blue. Illustration by Julia Guevara.

To the left of the image is a poem:
The candle that I
have lit for you
The candle that I have lit
for you
Speaks quakes with the air of
flame language,
And water drops from the
eye; from the grave
Your dust distinctly calls to
life eternal.
Oh exalted meeting place in
poverty’s room.
If I only knew, what the
elements mean;
They strive to understand
you, for everything points
always
To you; I can do nothing
but cry.
Words by Nelly Sachs, translated from German by Sabine
Smith and Laurence Sherr

To the right of the poem is an image of a 20 Euro Silver Nelly Sachs Commemorative
Coin, minted in Germany in 2016, honoring
the 125th anniversary of the legendary Jewish
poet's birth. Courtesy Coin Week
The coin has the words Nelly Sachs 1891-1970 written along the bottom and Kommt Einer von Ferne written along the top. The imagery on the coin depicts five rows of barbed wire with a small bird perched on the third row looking off to the left.

Beneath the image of the coin is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Nelly
Sachs, how she wrote and published
her poetry, and how her work inspired
numerous musical compositions by Lori
Laitman, Laurence Sherr, and more.

Panel 9:
Elie Wiesel
Beneath the title is a bulleted list of biographical information including the following:
• Born in Romania, 1928
• Deported to Auschwitz,
1944
• Liberated from Buchenwald,
1945
• Wrote in France, 1945–1955
• Published memoir, Night,
in French, 1958, and
English, 1960
• Died in Manhattan, New
York, USA, 2016
To the right of the list is a color illustration depicting a middle-aged man with a deeply-lined face, looking off to the right. The color palette is mostly shades of blue and purple, and the figure of the man seems to swirl and meld with the dark background toward the bottom of the image.
Illustration by Martha Hemingway

To the left of the illustration is an excerpt from Wiesel’s memoir, “Night”
“Never shall I forget that
night, the first night in camp,
that turned my life into
one long night seven times
sealed. Never shall I forget
that smoke. Never shall I
forget the small faces of
the children whose bodies I
saw transformed into smoke
under a silent sky. Never
shall I forget those flames
that consumed my faith
forever. Never shall I forget
the nocturnal silence that
deprived me for all eternity of
the desire to live. Never shall
I forget those moments that
murdered my God and my
soul and turned my dreams
to ashes. Never shall I forget
those things, even were I
condemned to live as long as
God Himself. Never.”
Words by Elie Wiesel, translated from French by
Marion Wiesel

To the right of the memoir excerpt is a promotional image for the "Night Holocaust Project," an
international collaboration that premiered with a concert in
Russia in 2019. Courtesy thenightholocaustproject.com
The image consists of black and white images of two men positioned so that they are looking toward each other. The man on the left is Elie Wiesel, depicted with pale skin, high forehead, large ears, and bushy-eyebrows over deep-set, thoughtful eyes. The man on the right is Leib Glantz, depicted with a half-smile over a clean-shaven chin, his dark hair neatly combed. In the background of the image a choir can be seen singing. The words The ‘Night’ Concert A Stand Against Hate! are printed in white and yellow in the center of the image. On the left are the words The Words of Elie Weisel and on the right are the words The Music of Leib Glantz.
Below the image is a QR code captioned:
Connect here to learn more about Elie
Wiesel, how he wrote and published his
memoir, Night, and how it was adapted for
new audiences through the creation of the
"Night Holocaust Project."

Panel 10:
Conclusion
Beneath the title, separated by the orange parallel line motif is the subtitle Lasting Language.
Beneath the subtitle is a quotation:
Quote.
Only one thing remained reachable, close and
secure amid all losses: language. Yes, language.
In spite of everything, it remained secure against
loss. But it had to go through its own lack of
answers, through terrifying silence, through the
thousand darknesses of murderous speech. It
went through. It gave me no words for what was
happening, but went through it. Went through and
could resurface, 'enriched' by it all.
End quote.

– Paul Celan, Romanian Holocaust survivor and poet, acceptance speech for the Bremen Literature
Prize, 1958

Beneath the quotation is a block of text:

We all live in our own historical moment. From that unique
vantage point, we can learn from the past. Through
representation, we can honor the lives of witnesses to the
worst of human cruelty and to the best of human care and
resilience.
What words have persuaded you? What music has moved you?
What performances have captivated you? What stories do you
long to tell?
We hope this exhibit will motivate you to find your voice
and share a story, whether that story is your own or one you
connected with through empathy. You can help expand the
web of connections across space and time through the creative
process. As a writer, artist, composer, performer, producer, or
supporter, you have the power to inspire others to hear the
voices of the past. Those voices call on us to work to realize a
better future.

Beneath the text is a color image depicting the words World Premier on a red background, printed from bottom to top on the left. In the middle of the image are the words Music of Remembrance Ensuring That The Voices of Musical Witness Be Heard with trademarks superimposed over a collage of images consisting of a black and white figure of a Japanese girl with downcast eyes, standing in front of a pile of suitcases. To her left is an archway consisting of three horizontal beams supported by two columns with Japanese characters inscribed into their surfaces. Beyond the archway is a black and white image of mountains superimposed over a bright blue sky. Branches of trees with yellow ginkgo leaves appear in the foreground of the image both to the left and upper right of the archway.
The image is captioned:
Music of Remembrance was founded in 1998 to remember the Holocaust through music. In addition to honoring
Holocaust-era artists, it has commissioned more than 30 new Holocaust-inspired works by today’s leading
composers. These include the works by Lori Laitman and by Jake Heggie and Gene Sheer featured in this
exhibit. The organization’s mission reaches beyond the Holocaust to address the experience of others who
have faced persecution or exclusion because of their faith, ethnicity or sexuality. The image above represents
the 2018 multimedia work Gaman, recalling the wartime internment of Japanese Americans. Courtesy Music of
Remembrance
Beneath the image caption is a QR code captioned:
Connect here for suggestions about
how you can participate in the chain
of commemoration as a writer,
interpreter, performer, or supporter
of the arts.

See attached pdf document for German language transcription.

mp3

About 35 minutes long.

128 kbps