Children's Opera 'Brundibar' Released as Hebrew Book for Israeli Children

The historic children's opera "Brundibar," which premiered in the Terezin concentration camp over 80 years ago, has been adapted into an illustrated Hebrew children's book titled "Brundibar: The Children's Victory!". The project aims to express solidarity with Israeli children and families and serves as a protest against attacks on Israel, conveying a message of moral resilience.

The book's publication fulfills a personal dream for author Helga Brenner, who began working on the project three decades ago. In 1996, Brenner interviewed Holocaust survivors who remembered the opera's performances in Terezin. For the child prisoners, "Brundibar" was a symbol of spiritual resistance, with the character of Brundibar representing Hitler's tyranny.

Survivors recall the opera's profound impact. Helga Pollak-Kinskey, a survivor from "Room 28," stated, "Brundibar spread like a spark. The songs had a deep meaning for us: the victory of good over evil. After all, these were our hopes."

The initiative to distribute the book to children in war and conflict zones originated with opera director Mstislav Pentkovsky. He has staged "Brundibar" in Russia and Estonia since 2015. Pentkovsky, who openly opposed the war in Ukraine, saw the book as a gesture of solidarity. "I think it would be wonderful to give the book 'Brundibar' to children in war as a sign of our solidarity," he said, emphasizing the opera's timeless message of friendship, justice, compassion, and solidarity.

This idea led to the "Brundibar Read and Gift Project." Following Ukrainian and German editions, the Hebrew edition was published in 2025 with support from the German Foreign Ministry and will be distributed free of charge to children in Israel.