SPOTLIGHT: MUSIC & THE HOLOCAUST
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MUSIC AND THE HOLOCAUST MAKES AN IMPACT On November 18, 2021, The Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act was passed into law, making North Carolina one of just nineteen states in the United States to mandate Holocaust education in public middle and high schools. With the act taking effect in the 2023–24 school year, the Charlotte Symphony’s Music and the Holocaust program is poised to address the growing need for supplemental education about the Holocaust in our schools. Music and the Holocaust features an ensemble of Charlotte Symphony musicians performing music of significance during this tumultuous period in history. Through this music, students learn about Jewish culture and the horrors of the Holocaust. The music features a mix of traditional Jewish music — which was forbidden and considered “degenerate” by the Nazis — music composed in the concentration camps, and music that evokes survival and healing. Each concert includes narration and projected images that explore pre-WWII Jewish culture, the Third Reich’s attempts to control art and culture, the role of music and musicians in the concentration camps, and how the European Jewish community refused to be silenced. Mitch Rifkin is Chairman of the North Carolina Holocaust Foundation, a non-profit that helps fund the many programs offered by the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust such as teacher workshops, traveling plays and exhibits, and speaking engagements. Why was The Holocaust Education Act so important to advance the work that you’re already doing? “[The Act] passed after a lot of hard work, as you can imagine. We are excited about the fact that it came about because of all the right reasons. Not just talking about the horrors of the holocaust, but about how the holocaust came to be and that it could happen again — meaning the hatred prevails — and how one man was able to exterminate 12 million people.”
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