Auschwitz Concentration Camp
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Melissa Kagen, German Studies doctoral candidate at Stanford, conducted research examining the musical culture of Auschwitz-Birkenau in terms of geographical space. In the digital map she create on the right, red circles represent areas where forced music was played for prison guards, while the blue circles represent voluntary music of the prisoners. Her unconventional focus on the locations where music was played and heard rather than the significance of specific songs provides a unique visual representation of the interplay between forced and voluntary music in the lives of the prisoners. It can be clearly seen that music acted as both a weapon against them and a method of resistance and self-expression in spaces just feet away from each other.
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