Curt Bloch and his Underwater Cabaret

liberation in the spring of 1945, Bloch produced and circulated a new issue every week. The 96 small booklets, each with a cover decorated with his own collages, contain a total of 492 handwritten poems. Often satirical in tone, they commented on the events of the war, gave voice to the experience of a man in hiding, and provided both reflection and entertainment for members of the resistance in the Dutch city of Enschede. Like Anne Frank’s diary, Curt Bloch’s poems offer a deeply personal and emotional perspective on life under Nazi persecution. Many of his texts remain relevant to this day. The recently created digital archive of Curt Bloch’s creative legacy has received numerous honors, including the Grimme Online Award, a European Design Award, and the Grand Prix of the German Design Club. Leading international media outlets, including Le Figaro, The Guardian, and The New York Times, have reported on the remarkable rediscovery of Bloch’s work. More than 200 Dutch and German actors, cabaret artists, and Holocaust survivors volunteered their time to the project. This lecture will be presented by Thilo von Debschitz and Simone Bloch, Curt Bloch’s daughter. Poet Samuel Haecker will read a selection of Bloch’s poems. Each guest will receive a small gift at the end of the event. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 162314 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Thilo von Debschitz studied communication design at RheinMain University in Germany. After holding art director positions at various companies and an internship at Pentagram Design, New York, he founded the Q design agency in Wiesbaden in 1997. The agency has received recognition in the form of numerous national and international awards. Outside his agency work, Thilo von Debschitz is a lecturer and author of articles and books with a design focus. He earned global acclaim for his monograph on infographics pioneer Fritz Kahn whose work had been largely forgotten as a result of Nazi censorship. Thilo von Debschitz is a regular conference speaker on design topics. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 162313 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Simone Bloch is a psychotherapist and erstwhile playwright. A first-generation American and a lifelong New Yorker who first began studying German in high school as a way of coping with her father’s sudden death. Both her parents were the sole Shoah survivors of their families of origin, natives of Dortmund, Germany who first met in Amsterdam after the end of the Second World War and emigrated to New York many years before her birth. A native of Queens, Simone raised her own children on the Upper West Side, in the same building with her now 100-year-old mother, whose matter-of-fact humor, unwavering tough love, and willingness to speak of her experience influenced the family mightily. It was one of the Gen 3 children who set into motion the “discovery” of Curt Bloch s work, which had been on the family bookshelf for almost 80 years. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 162312 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Samuel Haecker is a multilingual poet, musician, and translator. He grew up across the US and Germany, writing and translating across German, Spanish, and English. His work has been published in Drunken Boat, Osmosis Press, and elsewhere. He is currently editing a translation of Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral’s Desolation. He is a founding member of the Transletting collective. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn][vccolumntext css=.vccustom1790882678913{margin-top: 11px!important;} ]This event is presented in partnership with the German Consulate General New York. [/vccolumntext][vcsingleimage image= 162323 css=.vccustom1790883288701{margin-right: 40px!important;} ][/vccolumn][/vcrow]