19

British newspaper report

October 1^st2015

An extremely rich cultural life developed in Theresienstadt. There were lectures, recitals, poetry readings, concerts, and so on. At least four concert orchestras were organized, as well as chamber groups and jazz ensembles. Several stage performances were produced and attended by camp inmates. Many prominent artists from Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Germany were imprisoned at Theresienstadt, along with writers, scientists, jurists, diplomats, musicians, and scholars, and many of these contributed to the camp's cultural life.

Chapter Six

The Games (Suzanne)

Birkita’s bed was indeed soft and warm and she slept the sleep of the dead. It was morning when Flavia woke her with a breakfast of freshly baked bread with honey, some fruit and a little wine.

‘What time is it?’

‘About noon. You were tired.’

Birkita was puzzled. There was something not right.

‘I am a slave,’ she said, ‘but you are treating me like a mistress of the house.’

‘This is the way Master Antonius likes it done,’ said Flavia as she walked out.

Left alone, Birkita ate and drank. She had vague memories of the night she had slept through. Sounds from downstairs or out on the street – shouting, a woman laughing, a lot of groaning and whimpering and frantic, unintelligible sounds, something breaking – pottery perhaps.

She tried not to think about everything that had happened. She thought very briefly about escaping – there appeared to be no one at her door. But escape to where? She didn’t even know where in the world she was. She couldn’t speak their tongue. And anyway – return to what? Everything she had known and loved had been destroyed.

Some time later Flavia returned. She wore a floor-length sleeveless dress the same colour as autumn grass, trimmed with gold, and carried a second dress – a white one – over her arm.

‘Come,’ she said, ‘it is time to get ready.’

Birkita didn’t question her. She just did as she was told, putting on the dress, wrapping a gold coloured belt around her waist and stepping into gold sandals. Then Flavia applied something to Birkita’s eyes and to her cheeks.

‘You look beautiful,’ said Flavia.

‘Is all this for the men?’ asked Birkita, dully.

Flavia laughed.

‘No, of course not. We wouldn’t go to that much trouble for those. No. This is for something else. You will see. Come.’

Flavia led Birkita down the stairway into the street. Here they waited on the walkway. People hurried past. Carts laden with goods trundled along. A chariot came by followed by a mule with two barrels strapped, one either side, on its back. The smell was overpowering – a combination of people and animals and food cooking and horse shit and toilets. Birkita tried to remember the smell of lying in a meadow amongst the fragrant grasses and wild flowers but found that she couldn’t.

After a while they were joined by the merchant, Antonius and two men – the bodyguard and a second more compact man with curly hair who seemed to be one too. Birkita had not seen Antonius close up before or if she had, she had been in too much shock to notice much about him. Now she saw that he was short – not even as tall as her – and he reminded her of one of the Roman tax collectors that used to come to the village from time to time. He ignored the two women and set off towards the end of the street.

‘Come on,’ said Flavia, falling in behind him.

The two bodyguards brought up the rear.

At the corner they turned right and after two streets, turned left again. They were heading east. Over on their left, beyond the city a great mountain rose into the sky. Birkita had never seen anything like it. She tried to remember the way – she would need it when she came to escape – but she soon became totally confused. The streets all looked the same. They teemed with people, carts, chariots, animals. There was no grass or flowers – just stone everywhere, the buildings, the streets. And so many animals and people. And the noise – the shouts, the clamour. It was deafening. The only thing that seemed in any way familiar was the vivid blue sky like a ribbon overhead.

As they went further along, the flow of people increased. They all seemed to be moving in the same direction. The effect was like a river. Soon Birkita saw where they were going – a high, circular wall that extended off to either side and was inset with tall arches. There were stone stairs that led up onto the top of the wall and people were streaming towards the steps and going up them.

One of the bodyguards led the way and Birkita lifted the hem of her dress to climb the steps. The dress felt very strange on her. At home in summer she had worn a tunic that hung loosely on her and came down to her knees. Here, this dress seemed to have been fitted around her, moulded to her body. When they reached the top of the steps, she found that she was looking down into a huge elliptical depression in the ground. The bottom of the depression was covered in sand and a low wall encircled it. Tiers of seats mounted upwards from the wall. Overhead a great canopy shaded most of the seats from the sun. Birkita looked in a mixture of wonderment and confusion at Flavia. But Flavia said nothing – she just smiled.

They descended to seats about halfway down the stone stairs. Birkita sat on the cool stone with the original bodyguard on one side and Flavia on the other. Then she waited silently, wondering what was to happen next.

She had heard before that the Romans had places like this but she had never really been able to picture them. The scale of this was so far beyond anything she could have imagined. She knew too that it was a place where men fought each other. And so it turned out to be. When all the seats were filled, a trumpet blared, then a grey-haired Roman in a long red tunic made a speech. He signalled with his hand and things got under way.

Men in helmets and armour emerged from a tunnel and after saluting, began to fight each other. Birkita assumed that they were slaves or captives. She wondered for a moment whether, if she had been a man, she would have ended up down there rather than up here.

The crowds roared their approval. Soon men were dying. Birkita had seen fights to the death before, but to entertain a crowd? This was no way to die. What was it with the Romans and killing? What pleasure did they get from it? She watched the scene in front of her dully, trying to keep other thoughts and images at bay.

Finally, one warrior was left standing. He saluted and left the arena while men – Birkita assumed they were slaves – came in to remove the bodies. Using a large hammer and a knife, they finished off any that were still alive. Then they scattered fresh sand onto the bloodstains.

Once this was done, the same slaves carried in sections of timber which they quickly assembled into a low wooden platform. A man and a woman emerged from the tunnel and walked into the arena to the cheers of the crowd. Unlike the fighters who had looked around at the crowd grimly, these two smiled and waved to the audience who whistled and cheered and waved back.

The man and the woman stepped onto the platform where a rug had been laid. Each briskly stripped the other naked, kissing one another as they did so. The man was black, muscular and well-built with a huge penis that was now erect. The woman was white with black hair, columnar thighs and large breasts. Now she lay back on the rug and parted her legs as the man lay on top of her and entered her. He began to pump her and the crowd cheered. After a few minutes, the couple changed position. The woman knelt down while the man entered her from behind, like a dog. The crowds applauded them. After a few minutes, they changed to another position, head to toe and toe to head and used their mouths. Then they changed again. Each time the crowd roared their delight, egging them on. And between each change of position, they waved to the crowd and bowed.

But then suddenly there was an unexpected hush. The couple ignored it and continued their latest coupling. This involved the man standing and holding the woman upside down, her thighs on his shoulders, his penis in her mouth. Suddenly the crowd began to roar with laughter. At this the man looked up and as he did so, a look of horror came over his face and he dropped the woman as his erection faded. She fell with a loud thud and a scream of pain onto the platform.

A huge brown beast with a great shaggy mane and a long tail had come down the tunnel and emerged from its semi-darkness into the sunlight of the arena. It padded along slowly, uneasily, looking around and sniffing the air, unsure. But then it noticed the man and the woman who were now standing on the platform in horror, staring at the beast. The crowd hushed as it waited to see what would happen next. The great beast stared at the couple. They looked around frantically searching for some place where they could find safety. But there was nothing. They were alone in the arena with just the low platform. Then the great beast slowly broke into a loping run, moving incredibly quickly for such a large animal. The couple began to run away and the crowd roared with laughter. Most of the spectators were on their feet now, cheering and whistling and straining to see and make sure they missed nothing.

The man was much faster than the woman so that the beast caught her first, leaping onto her back. She uttered a wild, terrible shriek as she was brought down. The animal settled on top of her as she continued to scream. The man stopped, turned around, hesitated for a moment and then ran back. The beast already had the woman’s shoulder in its mouth and was tearing at it. A spray of bright blood erupted splashing the beast, the sand and the woman’s white skin with scarlet. The man tried to push the beast off but then the animal turned on him. He screamed, falling onto his back as the animal moved to lie on top of him and take his arm in its mouth. There was a loud crunching sound. Birkita looked to either side of her. On one side, Flavia stared down into the arena, her face impassive, unreadable. On the other, the bodyguard was laughing. After a few moments he seemed to become aware that he was being watched and he turned to Birkita. He looked at her with interest as though seeing her for the first time. Then he mimed a kiss at her before returning his gaze to the arena. Birkita kept her eyes averted until the screaming stopped.

The afternoon continued with more fights amongst men and between men and animals. The compact bodyguard bought snacks and wine from a seller and Birkita was given some of this. Towards evening, two saddled horses were led into the arena. At this the crowd fell silent. Moments later, a woman with wild blonde hair was led in by two soldiers, one holding each of her arms. The woman was bare-breasted and wore only a loincloth. Her wrists were chained together. She screamed and struggled like a madwoman but the soldiers grip was like iron. When they reached the centre of the arena where the horses were waiting, the woman suddenly went quiet. Her strength seemed to fail her and her legs folded beneath her.

Sitting in the sand, the two horses were backed up, one on either side of her. Then Birkita understood what was going to happen. She looked at Flavia who was staring intently down at the scene. The woman’s chains were taken off but now her left wrist and ankle were tied by two ropes to the saddle of one horse. Then her other wrist and ankle were tied to the second one. Flavia became aware that Birkita was watching her because she suddenly turned.

‘An escaped slave,’ Flavia said by way of explanation before turning back. And now Birkita understood why she had been brought here. She kept looking away as she heard the horses urged forward, and then the screaming began.