We Left the Camp Singing

An educational documentary involving music and exclusive interviews with Holocaust survivors, the project has the goal to share memories of musical activities in the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp, a unique camp located in Czechoslovakia, where the presence of talented artists, musicians, and composers encouraged cultural life to flourish despite the desperate living conditions of the inmates. The documentary follows Sofia’s intense journey studying the music of composers who were imprisoned in Theresienstadt such as Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, and the more recently re-discovered Hans Winterberg, while she is also committed to meet some of the last survivors. The interviews reveal an inspirational story of intergenerational meeting that keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.

Note for the In-Person event: Although this is a free program, tickets are required and should be pre-purchased here. Screening will be preceded by the 8 minute short “The Record” and followed by a live-over-Zoom Q&A with director/producer Sofia Tapinassi.

In addition to the above program on the evening of Thursday, January 26th at 7:30 PM at Shalom Austin (free, but tickets required), the Austin Jewish Film Festival will make the main film (We Left the Camp Singing) and a pre-recorded Q&A with the director available virtually for a week.

More information and tickets are available here.