Singing Truth to Power

“We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.”

This challenge by Rafael Schächter, a young Czech conductor imprisoned by the Nazis in Terezín, launched a revolution with music as its sword, and its echoes are still reverberating today. Schächter taught 150 prisoners the “Requiem” by Giuseppe Verdi, which would be performed 16 times in 1943 and 1944 in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezín.)

While Nazi propaganda depicted Terezín as a “resort” for Jews, where the arts flourished and prisoners lived in comfort, in reality the Jewish prisoners suffered inhumane treatment and lived in constant fear of starvation, death and deportation to Auschwitz. “Defiant Requiem” became a powerful symbol of cultural resistance — a Catholic funeral mass performed by Jewish prisoners who reclaimed a little piece of their humanity with every note.

The story of the prisoners and their triumph of creating beauty in unimaginable circumstances has been captured in “Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín,” the concert-drama with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra that Temple will sponsor at the Meyerson Symphony Center on April 23 at 7:30 p.m. (Learn more and get your tickets here!) We caught up with Cantor Vicky Glikin for her insights on this extraordinary event and what it means for this moment at Temple Emanu-El.

We understand that Temple member Ben Loeb brought this performance to your attention. What was your initial reaction?
As soon as I learned the story from Temple member and “De ant Requiem” conductor Ben Loeb, I immediately understood how special this production is and that we must bring it to Dallas. I also understood what a large undertaking this would be and the extent of planning and support that it would require. I am beyond proud that Temple is facilitating this incredible premiere. It feels like a natural next step for us after TE150. I’m also grateful for our partnerships with other Dallas-based organizations, which are helping us to deepen the educational impact of “Defiant Requiem,” including offering complimentary tickets for underprivileged students, community colleges and educators.

How do you experience the message in the music itself?
The music of Verdi’s “Requiem” describes the day of judgment, and you feel the same fear, dread, and awe that we strive to feel when we’re reciting the Un’taneh Tokef on Yom Kippur, when we acknowledge that each of us will one day be judged according to our actions. Verdi’s music is passionate, composed to elicit an emotional response, and this is how this music is experienced by the listeners. This is especially true in the context of the extraordinary story of Raphael Schächter and his choristers in Terezín, combined with testimony from survivors and those who perished in the Holocaust.

What does spiritual resistance mean to you?
The prisoners were able to bring to life this complex work under the most inhumane circumstances. I admire their courage; it makes me appreciate the power of the arts in a profound way. For these prisoners stripped of individuality, to be able to create community and holiness, perhaps to even feel a sense of Oneness through of singing together, is incredibly moving.

How does the story resonate with us today?
Sharing this important story today gives us the opportunity to demonstrate to the wider Jewish and non-Jewish community that one of the ways the Jewish people have historically responded to trauma and hardship is through the creation of art. When we first started thinking about bringing “Defiant Requiem” to Dallas several years ago, we could not have predicted that antisemitism would be at the level that we are seeing today. It feels like telling this story is more relevant now than ever.

Verdi’s “Requiem” is the liturgy of a Catholic funeral mass. What makes this a Jewish experience?
The fact that Schächter and his choristers wanted to use the liturgical language that the Nazis would understand was a choice to resist through music and a way to shift the power dynamic between the prisoners and their captors. Through the liturgy of the “Requiem,” the Jewish prisoners said to the Nazis: “Your God will judge you for the crimes that you are committing against us.” It is also an act of hope, as the prisoners sang about liberation, if not in life, then for their souls after death. In bringing “Defiant Requiem” to Dallas, we are honoring the memories of the six million murdered in the Holocaust and the unbelievable courage of all who de ed the Nazis and survived despite the odds.

Originally published in the March/April 2025 edition of The Window.