Karel Å venk

Karel Schwenk, born Karel Schwenk ( born March 17, 1917 in Prague, Austria - Hungary, † April 1, 1945 at Karlberg ) was a Czech comedian.

Life

Svenk in recent years, the independence of the Czechoslovak federation and even during the early stages of the Second World War, was a celebrated comedian and later became one of the leading figures in shaping cultural life in Theresienstadt ghetto. He belonged to the politically left-wing and worked as an actor, writer, director and composer, both in Prague and in the Czech countryside.

In November 1941, German authorities deported him to the first transport to Terezín. There svenk met the composer Rafael Schachter also interned and put him under so-called comradeship evenings cabaret revues on the legs, including the lost food brand. His composition of the secret camp anthem, the " Terezin March", made him instantly famous among the inmates. In the fall of 1942, he appeared with the puppeteer Otto Neumann and the dancer Kamila Rosenbaumová in the given of the camp in order pseudo- documentary " Theresienstadt 1942 " in front of the camera. Svenk most famous cabaret revue should be the last cyclists. This satirical, anti-Nazi performance, however, was censored after the dress rehearsal of the camp administration.

Beginning in October 1944 Karel Schwenk was deported to Auschwitz. After a month he was transferred to a factory after Meuselwitz near Leipzig. The exact amount of there hard work in catastrophic food ruined Svenk already ailing health permanently. In spring 1945 svenk was transported to destination Mauthausen. During this transport, in a cattle car of emaciated concentration camp prisoner Karel Schwenk died.