Un Verfügbar aux Enfers

The Music Academy of Villecroze commissioned a new version from Christophe Maudot, adapted to chorales, from Germaine Tillion’s operetta for which he had already made an arrangement. It was in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where Germaine Tillion was deported at the end of October 1943, that she wrote a truly unique account of the death camps: Le Verfügbar aux Enfers, a 3-act operetta. According to Anise Postel-Vinay, the manuscript was written in a very short time at the end of October 1944, in a “kind of great frenzy.” Germaine Tillion hid it in the ceiling of her barrack, by removing a board just above the third level of the bedstead they occupied. To music familiar to everyone — classical works, advertisements and folksongs — Germaine Tillion portrayed her companions and described life in the camp. A naturalist, the only male character in the text, is studying a new species, the Verfügbar, a cross between a Gestapo member and a resistance member. The action takes place in three acts: Spring, Summer and Winter. The project was partly collective: Germaine Tillion asked her comrades to help find the right melodies for the songs. Thus, the vocal parts are introduced by the words “to the tune of...” and underscored by a red mark in the margin. She did, however, write most of the texts in prosody strictly respecting the phrasing of the original music.

To obtain copies of the score, please contact the Music Academy of Villecroze.