Brundibar by Tony Kushner, illustrated by Maurice Sendak

This children’s book written in 2003 is based on the children’s opera Brundibar that was written in Prague at the time of the Nazi occupation and performed fifty-five times in Theresienstadt.  The original opera, written collaboratively by Jewish composer Hans Krasa and Czech librettist Adolph Hoffmeister, was intended as an anti-Nazi statement of spiritual resistance.  Tony Kushner’s modern adaptation of the story of “Brundibar” lifts this fable out of its specific historic context and establishes its lesson for humanity as both timeless and eternal.

Brundibar (a slang word in Czech meaning “Bumblebee”) is set in the city in which two poor, hungry children, Pepicek and Aninku, go out into the street to find milk for their sick mother.  They are rebuffed, pushed aside, and laughed at by adult passers-by, who tell them that unless they have money to pay with, they cannot have any milk or bread or baked goods, even though these things are there in plenty.

The children see “Brundibar”, an organ grinder with an evil -looking face and a small moustache (symbolic of Adolph Hitler), singing in the street.  People stop and listen to “Brundibar” and toss coins into his hat.  “Brundibar”, it seems, even though he had a horrid singing voice and even though his organ made ugly, wheezing noises, has much more money than he needs and can get anything that he wants because everybody gives him money.  The children get an idea—if they can sing, too, and if people will listen to them and toss coins into their hats, they can get enough money to go and buy the milk and food their sick mother needs to get well again.  But when Pepicek and Aninku start to sing, their small, soft voices cannot be heard above the din that “Brundibar” was making.  And when “Brundibar” saw them and heard what they were trying to do, he called out to the adults walking in the street that Pepicek and Aninku were horrid, rude, nasty children.  He cursed at them loudly and all the adults around him joined in the cursing.  And Pepicek and Aninku had to run for their lives.

They found a dark alley to hide in and they sat down and started to cry.  Their tears were heard by three talking animals—a dog, a cat, and a bird.  The animals told them that there was one way they could defeat “Brundibar”.  They could go from door to door and get all the other children in the neighborhood to join them and by singing together and working together as one, the children could sing louder than “Brundibar” and drown him out.  The animals told Pepicek and Aninku that they would help them gather the children together and that they, too, would join in the singing to drown out “Brundibar”.

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