Approaching the Holocaust

This is a blog post about Shulamit Ran’s String Quartet No. 3! For more context please visit the “Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory” Launch Page.

 
 

Why remember? Why think about the egregious tragedies of the Holocaust? Today’s world is full of our own horrors, what do we gain by examining the past when so much needs our attention today?

Having grown up with a consistent diet of Holocaust remembrance art—from award-winning productions of the Diary of Anne Frank at my predominantly protestant midwest high school to a steady stream of excellent movies throughout the years, including Schindler’s List and The Pianist—I reflexively knew that “Hitler = Bad” and “Holocaust = Wrong,” even with limited firsthand knowledge of the terrifying realities that occurred. Raising a family here in Houston affords many opportunities to engage with the Holocaust through trips to the Holocaust Museum Houston or lessons tied to Holocaust Remembrance Week in our public schools. But how can those of us who do not have a direct connection with the Holocaust develop a deeper understanding of its lingering impact on us all today?

While art may not be an effective tool for solving regional conflicts or a lever to improve divisive political discourse, art can be a powerful way to create opportunities for personal reflection and provide a means to better understand the experiences of those willing to share their first-hand experiences through an art form. Engaging with art, especially art without words, creates space for personal reflection and opportunities for dialogue between the artist and their audience, who seek to understand what a streak of paint on a canvas, a dance movement, or the musical vibration of a string can communicate.

With that in mind, we begin our journey through this project with the sombre and reflective final movement of Shulamit Ran’s Third String Quartet, entitled “Shards, Memory.” Ran was inspired by the work and life of Felix Nussbaum, a Jewish artist whose paintings often depict the harsh realities of his lived experience of the Holocaust and who was murdered in Auschwitz in the fall of 1944. Regardless of how much you know about him, we encourage you to use the resources below to examine some of his art and learn about his life before listening to the movement. We hope the combination of these resources and the recordings we share help to create personal space to explore the imagery of his paintings and listen to Shulamit Ran’s music. What does the experience of examining the wordless art of Nussbaum and then listening to the music of Ran bring the to forefront of your mind?

Digging Deeper: Felix Nussbaum

Please share your thoughts with us if you are interested. We can be reached at RanQuartetProject@loop38.org and would love to hear about your experience interacting with this project. As we share more content, we strive to create a dialogue with you and the community.

Selected works by felix nussbaum