Breaking the Silence

If You Go

Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City without Jews)
Film by Hans Karl Breslauer, 1924,
Music by Olga Neuwirth; Performed by Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher

Monday, Feb. 21, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Mayerson JCC, 8485 Ridge Ave.

Tickets available now.

Silent movies often conjure thoughts of wacky hijinks or overwrought melodrama. But films of the Silent Era addressed social and moral issues of the day, from child labor and poverty to immigration and political corruption.

Hans Karl Breslauer’s 1924 film Die stadt ohne Juden (“The City without Jews”) was intended to be a satire on the antisemitic political and cultural movement of the 1920s. However, now it serves as a shockingly prescient look at the fear of multiculturalism and the normalization of antisemitism that would bring to power the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler in the following decade.

The discovery of a copy of the film at a market in Paris in 2015 led to the full restoration of the piece and a new score composed by Olga Neuwirth draws the audience into a nearly 100-year-old world.

Matthias Pintscher, conductor and CSO Creative Partner, will lead the Ensemble intercontemporain, in performing the score. This Paris-base ensemble who have traveled to Cincinnati specifically for this one-a-kind performance.

This program is part of the Cincinnati Jewish Bicentennial, which marks the 200th anniversary of Jewish community life in the city of Cincinnati, which formally began with the founding of Chestnut Street Cemetery in Cincinnati’s West End in 1821. The Jewish community and the City of Cincinnati will commemorate this significant milestone through community celebrations, multi-generational programs and interactive experiences.