On October 1st 1933, a large audience was gathering for a sold out show at the Berlin

El Tata on Schallochmstrasse, right in the heart of Berlin.

This was the first official performance from a brand new arts organisation in Germany.

There was opera, there was orchestra, there was house music and there was also theatre.

The main organisation was in Berlin and there would be offshoots eventually in all major

cities in Germany.

Known as the Yuderscher Kulturbund, this was an organisation that would expand and flourish

throughout Germany in the 1930s.

The Kulturbund was an island of serenity.

It was a place where the audience members could gather for a couple of hours on a Tuesday

night in here Mendelssohn or Moller or C.S. Shakespeare play or play by Mollier or C.A.

Film.

But what made this new organisation different was that it was for Jews and Jews only and

run under the authority of the Nazi state.

Only Jews could perform with the Kulturbund and by performing I mean everything from playing

the flute and the violin and the viola to dancing, to acting, to building sets and costumes,

to taking tickets at the Bach's office, to clean the lavatories, to do any of those things

you had to be Jewish and only Jews were allowed to attend Kulturbund performances.

There was an organisation devoted to Jewish people and Jewish culture supported by the Nazis.

Even as Hitler's regime gains strength in Germany,

a Jewish cultural life still managed to survive, with orchestras, record labels and more,

most of it with the express approval of the Nazi state.

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