Pentkowsky publishes Terezin opera book in two languages

Pentkowsky released two editions of the children's picture book BRUNDIBAR, in English and Hebrew, as a mark of solidarity with the victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

The book's author is Hannelore Brenner. Its source is Hans Krása's children's opera Brundibár, written inside the Terezin concentration camp and enduring as a recognized symbol of resistance to genocide.

The Federal Foreign Office of Germany supported the Hebrew edition's production. Free copies are obtainable on request via [email protected]. Distribution runs outside the commercial book trade.

Who is Mstislav Pentkowsky?

Pentkowsky is an opera director based in Latvia. He oversaw the dual-language release of Brenner's picture book. The publisher paired Brenner's text with Krása's source opera and related imagery.

What is BRUNDIBAR?

Krása wrote the opera Brundibár inside the Terezin concentration camp. It endures today as a recognized symbol of resistance to genocide. The work carries historical weight as a children's score created under Nazi imprisonment. It ranks among the small group of stage works associated with a Nazi ghetto. The opera's survival creates a rare link between Terezin's camp culture and today's memorial gestures, offering material continuity from a Nazi ghetto to a contemporary children's picture book. Brenner's source opera carries a child-focused narrative well suited to picture-book adaptation.

What languages does the book cover?

The release covers two languages: English and Hebrew. The Federal Foreign Office of Germany funded the Hebrew edition's production. That funding connects a German federal institution to a Hebrew-language adaptation of a Terezin-era opera. Anglophone and Hebrew readers each receive a separate edition.

What does the project aim to do?

The release pairs Brenner's contemporary text with Krása's source opera. The book adapts Brundibár from stage and score into a children's picture-book format. The pairing carries the opera's witness function into an October 7, 2023 memorial gesture. Two readerships share access to a Holocaust-era musical work. Brenner's text frames the source opera for a young audience.

How are copies distributed?

Readers can request free copies via [email protected]. The publisher bypasses retail distribution. Direct circulation keeps the book in non-commercial channels. Pentkowsky and Brenner selected the direct-to-reader model over bookstore sales.

What is the project's broader significance?

The pairing joins a Holocaust-era work with a contemporary solidarity gesture. It carries a Terezin opera into a children's literature format and then deploys that format for an October 7, 2023 memorial project. The book's reach spans stage, page, and continuing memorial culture in two languages.

What comes next?

Pentkowsky's project hands a Terezin symbol of children's resistance to a new generation of victims. Its Hebrew edition links Krása's score directly to Israeli readers. Its English edition brings the opera into Anglophone classrooms and homes. The release secures a Holocaust-era artwork inside a 2020s memorial framework. The direct-to-reader model avoids commercial gatekeeping. Brenner's text bridges mid-twentieth-century camp music and twenty-first-century childhood reading.