Hans Krasa’s Brundibar, a children’s opera of good versus evil written in Czech, tells the tale of two children on a mission to buy milk for their sick mother. As they sing to raise money for the milk, their earnings are stolen by the evil old organ-grinder, Brundibar, who was displeased by the competition. With the help of a Sparrow, a Cat, and a Dog-also played by children-the brother and sister are able to outwit Brundibar, reclaim their money, and finally bring milk home to their mother. Receiving its first performance in the winter of 1943 at a Jewish orphanage for boys in Prague, the opera was also revived within the walls of Terezin. Performed at least 55 times, the opera was one of the most popular performance pieces in Terezin's entire repertoire-every ticket was highly desired. The message of good over evil was motivating to the downtrodden prisoners, for it was not a far stretch to imagine the character Brundibar as a reference to Hitler. Fortunately two factors helped the work from being frowned upon by the SS: 1) a children's opera was viewed as benign and 2) it was in Czech, a foreign tongue to the German Nazis. Unfortunately this also made the opera inaccessible to the thousands of German-speaking inmates, both children and adults. But for those who did understand and were able to perform and/or attend, it was an inspirational distraction from their daily struggles.

Here is an excerpt of the Finale of an English version of Brundibar. The lyrics are as follows:

We won a victory

Over the tyrant mean,

Sound trumpets, beat your drums,

And show us your esteem!

We won a victory,

Since we were not fearful,

Since we were not tearful,

Because we marched along

Singing our happy song,

Bright, joyful, and cheerful.