Grey Zones

Dalibor Davidović (University of Zagreb)

Email: dalibord@web.de

 

ABSTRACT:

In this paper I will discuss the thesis of some Croatian historians that the musical performances in the Jasenovac concentration camp in the so called Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945) testify to the quality of life there. In order to specify the role of music in the concentration camp, I will use the term »grey zone«, used by Primo Levi to designate what he saw as the most horrifying consequence of the Nazi concentration camps, i.e. the annihilation of the difference between the victim and the executioner. The musical meaning of Levi’s term is not to be detected only in the fact that musicians in the concentration camps enjoyed the »Sonderkommando« status, but also in the general treating of music as an inescapable psycho-technique.