At Westerbork, in Holland, many of the artists were from vibrant artistic Berlin — they had tried to escape to Holland, but were arrested. The Nazi commander at Westerbork transit camp, A.K. Gemmeker, was proud of the highly talented celebrities. He also saw to it that there were classical music concerts, recitals and the widely popular cabaret shows, but every Tuesday Jews were deported to the gas chambers. The cabaret called “Humor and Melody,” premiered on Sept. 4, 1943 with 18 different skits, satirizing the daily life in the camp. The experienced German theater director Max Ehrlich created it with composers Willy Rosen and Erich Ziegler, and the Dutch Jewish stage designer Leo Kok. Dancers were part of the cabaret.

Click to access Dancing_Despite_the_Scourge.pdf

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Photos from the Yad VaShem Archive

http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/50885-container.html

Westerbork Cabaret