Collage in gray-blue on an orange background with a blue zigzag line: the head of a man in a diving bell, his hand holding a hose, next to it a manometer.

“My Verses are Like Dynamite”

Curt Blochʼs Het Onderwater Cabaret – Exhibition Opening

Between August 1943 and April 1945, the hitherto unknown German Jewish author Curt Bloch produced the magazine Het Onderwater-Cabaret while in hiding in the Netherlands. The Jewish Museum Berlin is now dedicating an exhibition to this unique work of creative resistance.

Past event

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The Old Building is marked in green

Where

Old Building, ground level, Glass Courtyard
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin

Where, when, what?

The exhibition presents all 95 original issues of the Het Onderwater-Cabaret, accompanied by insight into the production of their covers, audio readings of selected poems and a video performance staged by actors Marina Frenk, Richard Gonlag and Mathias Schäfer. The entire Het Onderwater Cabaret will be accesible in digital and transcribed form.

For the opening, there will be talks by Hetty Berg, Director of the Jewish Museum Berlin, Aubrey Pomerance and Ulrike Kuschel, curators, and Simone Bloch, daughter of Curt Bloch.

The evening will be musically accompanied by Marina Frenk and Richard Gonlag.

Exhibition “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: Features & Programs

Exhibition Webpage: “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: 9 Feb to 23 Jun 2024
Accompanying Events: Tour of the Exhibition “My Verses are Like Dynamite” Curt Bloch’s Het Onderwater Cabaret: Dates by arrangement (from 9 Feb to 26 May 2024); Current page: Exhibition Opening: 8 Feb 2024; Curator Tour for FRIENDS OF THE JMB: 8 Apr 2024, in German; Joodse Vluchtelingen: The Fate of German-Jewish Émigrés in the Netherlands: 3 Mar 2024, in German; Archival Objects of German Jews in the Netherlands: Show & tell for FRIENDS OF THE JMB, 7 Mar 2024, in German; Het Onderwater Cabaret Live. An evening of music and poetry: 11 Apr 2024, in German; Hidden in Enschede: Conversation with Contemporary Witness Herbert Zwartz: 16 Apr 2024, in German
Publications: JMB Journal 26: Het Onderwater Cabaret: Special edition on the occasion of the exhibition

Digital Content: OWC Online Feature: A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of the Exhibition; Life and Work of Curt Bloch: Essay with biographical insights, JMB Journal 26; On the Piano of My Fantasy – Video with Marina Frenk, Richard Gonlag, and Mathias Schäfer, in German, Dutch and German Sign Language; “It’s Complicated”: A text by Simone Bloch, daughter of Curt Bloch; “Ik neurie mee ’t propellerlied…”: Essay on Het Onderwater-Cabaret: A Testament to Political Resistance in the Occupied Netherlands, 1943–45; Clandestine Literature in the Netherlands 1940–1945: Essay, JMB Journal 26; All Audio Pieces of the Exhibition with Transcriptions and Translations; All issues of Het Onderwarter-Cabaret: All 95 issues to browse
See also: Survivors in Hiding (National Socialism); To the Web Project www.curt-bloch.com

Where, when, what?

WhenThu 8 Feb 2024, 6.30 pm
Where Old Building, ground level, Glass Courtyard
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
See location on map

Entry fee
Free of charge
Please notethat there is limited seating available and there may be waiting times at the entrance due to security checks. No further registration is required. The exhibition is open from 4 pm. This e-mail invitation is not a ticket and does not guarantee admission if capacity is exhausted. We ask for your understanding.