ABOUT THIS PROJECT

This website is a non-profit project of the Bloch family, New York, and the strategy and design agency Q, Wiesbaden. For the continuous functioning of this online presentation, we rely on donations.

This website not only allows full access to Curt Bloch’s creative legacy from his hiding place but also serves as a remembrance of World War II and its victims. Engaging with this digital offering is intended to better understand events in the past and to stand up against any form of discrimination in the present with this knowledge. For the dignity of every human being is inviolable.

The idea for this website emerged in 2021 after Simone Bloch, the daughter of Curt Bloch living in the USA, contacted Thilo von Debschitz in Germany (both are members of the Jekkes Facebook group). For over 75 years, the Bloch family had kept the magazines of the Onderwater Cabaret in their apartment – now the international public should learn about this creative legacy. Thus, a trilingual online presence was developed, which is completely digitally available, contains historical basic information, and offers several entry points into the world of the Onderwater Cabaret, such as

  • through an overview with numerous filtering options,
  • through a timeline with events chronologically listed that inspired Curt Bloch to his poems,
  • through a visual orientation with images of all cover pages,
  • and through a keyword index with several hundred terms.

This website is intended as a digital addition to the activities of the Jewish Museum Berlin, which owns the originals of the Onderwater Cabaret, and the book publication “Het Onderwater Cabaret” by Dutch historian Gerard Groeneveld.

 

Responsible for the content, editing
Thilo von Debschitz, Simone Bloch

Realization
Q, Wiesbaden

Contact
hello [at] curt-bloch.com

 

This website has been awarded by the Art Director’s Club Germany (ADC Competition 2024, category “Digital for Good”) as well as in the European Design Awards 2024 (category “Information Site”) and Print Awards 2024 (USA, category “Design for Social Impact”).

 

Post-Editing

Nannie Braunstein-Beekman, Jerusalem
Elke Eikmeier, Eindhoven
Marion Frankenhuis, Amsterdam
Dr. Gerhard Funke, Dortmund
Marja Kretschmar, Wiesbaden
Tom Rieke, Oistins
Ernst Sittig, Haulerwijk
Robert Saunders, Shrewsbury
Eleonore A. Speckens, New York
Sylvia Stawski, Haulerwijk
Hanny Veenendaal, New York
Elisabeth von Debschitz, Wiesbaden
 
and
 

Marloes Abeling, Sharm el Sheikh
Jaap Abrahams, Berlin
Laurette Artois, Frankfurt

Britta Bendieck, Amsterdam
Susan Bernofsky, New York
Sabine Bockting, Amerang
Guido de Boer, Utrecht
Carla Dauven-van Knippenberg, Aachen
Inge Folkers, München
Mandola Geleen, Amsterdam
Daniel Green, Wien
Bernard Groeneveld, Philadelphia
Elvira Groot, Wassenaar
Yvonne Groot, Kwazulu Natal
Rob den Heijer, Utrecht
Susan Heuman, New York
Dr. Dr. Angela Hildebrand, Frankfurt
Heike Hoffmann, Kelkheim
Silvia Hoffmann, Hünfelden
Ernestine Kahn, Berlin
Neeltje de Kroon, Andijk

Henriette Kuhr, Wiesbaden
Deidre Mattison, Birmingham
Carola Millenaar-Vieregge, Bukit Timah
Marinus Pütz, Amsterdam
Petra Esveld-Post, Wiesbaden
Edward Ruehle, Providence
Annemarie Schellens, Winchester
Christa Tomuschat, Langen
Anne Treichel, Berlin

Editorial support:

Peter Romijn, Amsterdam
Jaap Cohen, Amsterdam
Uta von Debschitz, Berlin

Technical support

Frontend
Webraum, Berlin

Hosting (Sponsoring)
Los Webos, Leipzig

Scans
Leo Baeck Institute, New York
Jewish Museum Berlin (Special Edition 1944)

Sound Recording Wiesbaden (Sponsoring)
Kristen & Schmidt, Wiesbaden

Sound Recording Amsterdam (Sponsoring)
Daan de Boer
Truusje Melissen

Copyright notice

We would like to thank the Charities Aid Foundation America for kindly granting the rights to display pages from “Het Onderwater-Cabaret” by Curt Bloch. For inquiries regarding the use of image material, please contact the Jewish Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum Berlin, Konvolut/816, Curt Bloch Collection, Loan of Charities Aid Foundation America, thanks to the generous support of the family of Curt Bloch).

Editorial Note

The handwritten poems by Curt Bloch have been transcribed and proofread by native speakers. Artificial intelligence was initially used for the literal translations, and then the texts were reviewed by native speakers as part of a post-editing process. No artificial intelligence was used for the lyrical translations. The translation work was carried out voluntarily, and we are deeply grateful to all contributors. We ask for your understanding if errors have occurred in the processing of over 1,600 pages. Suggestions for corrections are most welcome. We also appreciate it if language experts send us additional lyrical translations that take into account the rhyme and rhythm of Bloch’s originals. It is in our interest to continually improve and expand the content of this website.