Original scientific paper

Music as Historical Source: Social History and Musical Texts

Shirli Gilbert ; University of Michigan, Department of History, Tisch Hall, SAD

Abstract

Situated at the intersection between social history and musicology, this article is concerned with the distinctive ways in which music (broadly defined) can enrich and illuminate our understanding of particular historical contexts. Drawing on the example of songs created in the Nazi ghettos and concentration camps during World War II, it argues that music - taken alongside other historical sources relating to the period - can offer insight into how individuals and communities imprisoned under Nazism responded to and interpreted what was happening to them. The value of these songs is twofold: first, in a subject area where many sources originate from the post-war period, they are a significant body of texts originating from the time itself. In addition, they are distinctive among these contemporary sources as oral texts, disseminated - and, ultimately, preserved - within group frameworks. They convey to us not the retrospective understanding of individuals that survived the war (as do post-war testimonies), but the uncertain and shifting perspectives of prisoner communities facing daily reality over an extended time period. As an overview, the article is intended not only to shed light on this particular historical context, but also to stimulate discussion about other contexts in which the value of music as a historical resource might be similarly applicable.

Keywords

Nazi; Holocaust; Warsaw; Vilna; Sachsenhausen; Auschwitz

Hrčak ID:

63401

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/63401

Publication date:

14.1.2005.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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