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University Calendar

Theresienstadt: Terror and Triumph

December 10, 2015, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location George Segal Gallery - Red Hawk Parking Deck, 4th Level
SponsorGeorge Segal Gallery, College of the ArtsCostNo cost, open to the public, though please RSVP by calling (973) 655-3382 or 7640More Informationhttp:/‌/‌www.montclair.edu/‌arts/‌university-art-galleries-george-segal-gallery/‌Posted InCollege of the Arts
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Featured speaker Ela Stein Weissberger, a Holocaust survivor, one of the few survivors of the children of Terezin.

On February 12, 1942, 11-year-old Ela Stein Weissberger and her mother, sister, and grandmother were deported to Terezin, the last stop to Auschwitz and Treblinka. Separated from her family in July 1942m Ela was sent to Girls Home L410 Room 28 to be with children her own age. There they were allowed to paint with Bauhaus arts Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and trained to perform Hans Krása's children opera, Brundibár.  

Ela has this to say about the experience: "When we sang, we forgot where we were. We forgot hunger, we forgot all the troubles that we had to go through. We didn't have to wear the Jewish star on our clothing. We had to perform our best to keep our lives.

The Nazi's didn't realize that the Victory Song of the opera's end had a double meaning. In our eyes, Brundibár was Hilter." Ela took the role of the cat in the opera which she performed on stage 55 times. Brundibár was propaganda material for the Nazis, performed for an international audience including the International Red Cross. Of the 15,000 children sent to Terezin, 100 survived.

The George Segal Gallery serves as the flagship facility of the University Art Galleries, boasting more than 3,000 square feet of exhibition space and 3,300 square feet of office, classroom and storage space. In addition to housing some important works by George Segal, the gallery has become home to a growing permanent collection of modern and contemporary art, which includes works by Richard Anuszkiewitz, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Clarence Holbrook Carter, Andre Masson, Mayer William Schlesinger, the Lida Hilton Print Collection and the Lucy Lewis Collection of Contemporary Native American pottery.