The Tin Ring by Zdenka Fantlova

Author:Zdenka Fantlova [Zdenka Fantlova]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857160317
Publisher: McNidder and Grace Limited
Published: 2011-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

If it hadn’t been for the transports to the East, still taking place at irregular intervals and hanging over our heads like swords of Damocles, we could almost have fancied we were living normal lives. The Germans began actively to support our cultural efforts and, at the same time, to exploit them for propaganda purposes. Hitler had “given the Jews an independent city”, they claimed. True, we had more freedom of movement inside the fortified walls of Terezín than outside. But it was all a mirage.

They had their own definite plans for our future – and kept them strictly to themselves. They had condemned us to death, but allowed us to play and sing until the end. Why shouldn’t we? The smiles would soon be wiped from our faces.

So we all carried on, dancing under the gallows. And thus from the unlikely but supremely fertile soil of overcrowded Terezín, amid the wretched hunger, fear and constant deaths – but also amid hope and refusal to succumb to pain and humiliation – there arose an unprecedented theatrical and musical culture of the highest quality.

The Czech theatre in this camp was no mere entertainment or social distraction, but a living torch showing people the way ahead and lending them spiritual strength and hope. For many, a cultural experience became more important than a ration of bread.

I really felt at home amongst those actors and artists. On top of their eight-hour working day they threw themselves into acting, rehearsing, writing. Their ranks included many men and women of exceptional talent and ability who, no sooner had they arrived in Terezín, entered into its cultural life, stamping its plays and concerts with their individual genius and raising its creative standards to extraordinary heights.

One such man was Karel Švenk – writer, composer, choreographer, actor and clown. Something of a Czech Chaplin.

He was about twenty-five and his twinkling eyes, under bushy black brows, radiated energy. He wrote, acted and compèred his own cabaret. Unlike Lustig and Špitz with their domestic topics, Švenk’s satires were markedly political In his first revue, Long Live Life, complete with mime and ballet, Švenk played the part of a persecuted clown.

What achieved overnight fame, however, was the closing song, which had a jolly march rhythm. It echoed the suppressed longings of every inmate, and we promptly adopted it as our Terezín anthem:

Where there’s a will there’s always a way

So hand in hand we start,

Whatever the trials of the day

There’s laughter in our heart

Day after day we go on our way

From one place to another,

We’re only allowed thirty words to a letter

But hey, tomorrow life starts again

And that’s a day nearer to when we can pack

And leave for home with a bag on our back.

Where there’s a will there’s always a way

So hold hands now, hold them fast,

And over the ghetto’s ruins we

Shall laugh aloud at last

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