Philip Manes

In July 1942 Philipp Manes and his wife Gertrud were deported to Theresienstadt, the "model camp", where they spent more than two years. During this time Manes, at the time almost seventy year old, kept a detailed diary. In addition to regular duties around the camp, Manes organized lectures, theatrical performances and readings, and a rich cultural life developed over those two years. Manes writes about sold out performances of a dramatic reading from Goethe's Faust, about a production of Mendelssohn's Elias, and describes a moving lecture given by Leo Baeck - all with a huge amount of pleasure and pride. Along with a chronological account of events, the camp diary contains descriptions of the atmosphere in the camp. It is also interspersed with topical pieces on various aspects of daily life. Philipp Manes defined what he considered to be his main task, 'to chronicle the work of the ghetto, which at some point in the future will testify for us to the determination of the Jews'. On 28 October 1944 Philip and Gertrud were sent to Auschwitz and, in the selection procedure which followed, were sent to the gas chambers.