A Message to Website Viewers

Welcome

This project commemorates the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp of Terezin, focusing on their musical activities while highlighting this exceptional camp’s history. The Holocaust is a politically sensitive issue, and one that must be handled carefully. It is of utmost importance to present and preserve the truth about this dark time in history, especially in the face of Holocaust denial movements. In this, my senior honors project, it was my responsibility as a historian to make use of a wide range of sources, cross-checking information and documenting it all. However, it was an additional challenge to present the truth delicately, remaining respectful to the memory of millions of victims and not sensationalizing their stories. From the design of my site to the tone of my words, I strove to grant them a worthy, accurate and appropriate tribute.

My name is Melissa Misicka and I am a student at Northeastern University, class of 2003. Majoring in Multimedia Studies with a concentration in Music Technology, I’ve been able to study subjects like music theory and analysis as well as graphic and web design, all of which came into play throughout this undertaking.  In the fall of 2001 I was able to spend a semester abroad in the Czech Republic. This experience was a great advantage to my research as I was able to visit Terezin several times, take courses in Czech language and Czech music, and simply immerse myself in Czech culture. Furthermore, I was able to make contacts with people who have been of great assistance as I continued my efforts back in the United States. I selected a website as the ultimate output because I wanted to apply my classroom skills to a practical purpose, and also because I felt it was important to reach as wide an audience as possible with information about the subject.

I hope you find the content of the following pages interesting, poignant, and stirring. Hopefully some of you will be inspired to dig deeper into the story of Terezin, and I encourage you to reference the Sources section for suggestions of further reading. I also urge you to take note of the Credits page, for the wonderfully helpful people listed there have been essential to the existence of this website. Most special thanks go to Mr. and Mrs. George Matthews for sponsoring the Matthews Research Co-op award and Bill Giessen, founder of the Gideon Klein scholarship.

Thank you and best wishes,

Melissa

Last updated June 11, 2002

If you have any comments, questions or corrections, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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