Karel Berman

Karel Berman (14 April 1919 in Jindřichův Hradec, Czechoslovakia – 11 August 1995 in Prague, Czech Republic)[1] was a Jewish Czech opera singer, composer, opera director, and translator.

After extensive musical education, Karel Berman started his career as a bass singer of opera in Opava.

[1] In March, 1943, Berman was deported to Theresienstadt, where he took part in cultural life as a singer, composer and director.

[2] On 11 July 1944, for example, he and Rafael Schächter produced the "Four songs to words of Chinese poetry" by Pavel Haas for the first time.

[2] In 1944 he composed Suite Terezin in three movements ('Terezin', 'Horror', and 'Alone'); a work which musicologist Bret Web described as "a rare in situ tone portrait of life in a Nazi camp".