The Last Expression project

February 12, 2001 7:26 AM

The Last Expression project is a forum to explore the roles, functions, meanings and making of art in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II, focusing on the notorious site of Auschwitz-Birkenau. ... It is neither widely recognized in the realm of Holocaust history, nor in the discipline of art history, that concentration camp prisoners -- victims of the Nazis -- produced works of art during their incarceration. [from the Introduction.]
posted by tranquileye (2 comments total)

In addition to art produced at some of the camps, there was at one camp a jazz group as well as some original music, including an opera, produced. The opera was put on at the camp. The Germans would kill off every so often members of the cast and replace them. The opera, in the form of a children's fable, actually slyly made fun of oppression; the Germans attending performances never realized this.
The odd thing about the jazz group is that jazz outside the camp was considered decadent and not allowed by the nazis but it was admired and performed at the camp.
posted by Postroad at 3:08 PM on February 12, 2001

It's also not widely known that the camps were originally designed as re-education camps for political dissidents, and many thousands of Germans spent 3 or 6 months there until they were released after being brainwashed. I read a fascinating book on it recently, Soldiers of Evil.
posted by Http://Leviathan.weblogs.com at 9:48 PM on February 16, 2001