During the Holocaust, Robert Clary was imprisoned in Ottmuth, a concentration camp that was a satellite of Auschwitz. He was sent to work in a factory, putting rubber heal taps on wooden shoes. To keep up his morale, he sang while he worked, and before long was summoned to perform song-and-dance routines for camp commanders. In his 19 months at Ottmuth, his voice and charisma saved him from deportation, earned him extra bread and soup, and brought joy and relief to the other inmates.
In May of 1944, Robert was transported to Blechhammer, another satellite labor camp of Auschwitz. He was shaved, tattooed, given a striped uniform, and sent to work in a factory making synthetic fuel from coal. He also performed in two shows for the SS every Sunday, sometimes playing comedic women’s roles, sometimes slipping in a subversive Yiddish song.
""You entertain, but you're going to starve and you're going to die,” he said of the absurdity of his situation. “They can kill you in a second.”
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