Peter Kien
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Peter Kien (1 January 1919, in
Varnsdorf Varnsdorf (; german: Warnsdorf, hsb, Warnoćicy) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It lies on the border with Germany. Administrative parts Villages of Studánka and Světliny 1.díl ...
,
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
– October 1944, in
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
,
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
) was a Jewish artist and poet active at the
Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...
.František Petr Kien
He died at the age of twenty-five.


Education

The name of Franz Peter Kien, a prominent figure among many outstanding artists imprisoned in the Terezín (
Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...
) ghetto during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, is usually associated with the opera ''
The Emperor of Atlantis ' (''The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disobedience of Death'') is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. They collaborated on the work while interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt concentration camp, There ...
'' by Viktor Ullmann. In addition to the
libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
of that opera, Kien left significant artwork, poetry, and plays. Kien spent his first 10 years in
Varnsdorf Varnsdorf (; german: Warnsdorf, hsb, Warnoćicy) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It lies on the border with Germany. Administrative parts Villages of Studánka and Světliny 1.díl ...
, an industrial town near the Czech-German border. During the financial crisis his family moved to
Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
. In 1936, Kien graduated with honors from a German high school. The certificate contains special notes on his remarkable skills in writing and drawing. The same year, Kien enrolled in Prof. Willy Novak’s class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and in the graphic design school Officina Pragensis under Prof. Hugo Steiner-Prag. In 1939, after the racist laws were enforced, Kien was expelled from the Academy, but continued to work at the Officina Pragensis under Prof. Jaroslav Švab). He started to teach art at the Vinohrady synagogue. Married to Ilse Stranska in 1940, he tried to emigrate with his family. In December 1941, Kien was deported to Terezin. Over a thousand drawings, sketches, designs and paintings originate from his pre-Terezin years. Consigned to the drafting room of the Technical Department in Terezin, Kien produced numerous portraits, landscapes, drawings and genre sketches. His artwork radiates light, hope and warmth. By contrast, his writings of this period are mostly tragic and hopeless. In Terezin, Kien's social satirical play ''Marionettes'', staged by Gustav Schorsch. was performed 25 times. Gideon Klein set Kien's poetic cycle ''Plague'' to music. His other plays written in the ghetto include ''
Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'', ''Bad dream'' and ''On the Border''. They found their way to the
Wiener Library The Wiener Holocaust Library () is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the pe ...
in London, but were never published and never performed. On 16 October 1944, Kien was deported to Auschwitz with his parents and his wife in the final transport in October 1944. He died from disease soon after his arrival. None of the others survived.


Works

Between his arrival to Terezin in 1941 and his deportation to Auschwitz, Kien was officially the director of the Technical Drawing Office of the Jewish Self Administration. Using stolen paper, he sketched many depictions of living conditions in the Terezin ghetto. These works are among the most important works documenting that Terezin was a concentration camp rather than the model Jewish settlement the Nazis portrayed to outsiders. His works accurately reflect that its inhabitants were confined in inhuman conditions and treated severely. Kien also wrote the libretto to Viktor Ullmann's ''
Der Kaiser von Atlantis ' (''The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disobedience of Death'') is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. They collaborated on the work while interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezín) around 1943. ...
,'' a one-act chamber opera that was composed in (originally on the back of a deportation list due to a lack of paper) and rehearsed in Terezin between 1943 and 1944 but never performed there. It was first performed in 1975 in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and was recorded for
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
in Leipzig in 1990. An English Touring Opera production was performed at the
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
in London and toured England in 2012. He developed many works and he loved art.


References


External links


Some of Petr Kien's drawings of Theresienstadt, saved by Helga Wolfenstein King

Journey with Peter Kien into Terezin's Dark PastPhoto
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070610061022/http://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/showdoc.do?docid=171 Petr Kien – author's exhibitionTerezin Memorial {{DEFAULTSORT:Kien, Peter 1919 births 1944 deaths People from Varnsdorf Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II Czech artists Czech poets Czech male poets Jewish poets Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners 20th-century male writers Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust