Orchestr Berg – Město bez Židů

Silent expressionist film from 1924 with live music performed by the Berg Orchestra. The famous utopian novel The City Without Jews received its film premiere in October 1924, and exactly one hundred years later, the world premiere of a new, expanded version of the film with music by Peter Wajsar will take place.

The Berg Orchestra is an excellent Czech ensemble specialized in the performance of contemporary music. Since its inception it has commissioned and premiered more than two hundred new works. In 2021, it won the prestigious Prix Italia award for the Czech Republic for the first time in more than half a century.

6:30pm Guided Tour in Czech – Bubny Memorial and other places (only with the concert ticket, meeting point: Studio Hrdinů)

The City Without Jews / Hans Karl Breslauer / Austria 1924 / 80 min. – The City Without Jews is a 1924 Austrian expressionist film by Hans Karl Breslauer, based on the book of the same name by Hugo Bettauer (1922). In Austria, a Christian party wins the election and the new chancellor, a rabid anti-Semite, passes a law that all Jews must leave the country by the end of the year. This is greeted with cheers by the non-Jewish population and the Jews do indeed leave. But then it is discovered that there are no theatres to play in, the cafés are empty, the economy and especially business is dying, companies are leaving for Prague or Budapest, inflation and unemployment are rising.