The writer who published a satirical magazine while hiding in a Dutch home during WWII

From 1943 to 1945, Curt Bloch, a German Jew, published the magazine “Het Onderwater Cabaret” from a crawl space in the Dutch home he was hiding in. His work is being featured next year in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum Berlin.

The World

December 22, 2023

By Joshua Coe

During World War II, a German Jew hiding out in the Netherlands came up with a creative form of resistance to the Nazis.

He assembled a satirical magazine filled with handwritten poetry and covered in collages.

Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret, Magazine cover from Aug. 30,1943 — Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret, Magazine cover from Aug. 30, 1943 Het Onderwater Cabaret 30 Aug 1943; Jewish Museum Berlin, Convolute/816, Curt Bloch collection, loaned by the Charities Aid Foundation America thanks to the generous support of Curt Blochʼs family

Curt Bloch, a lawyer born in Dortmund, Germany, published the magazine “Het Onderwater Cabaret,” or The Underwater Cabaret, from a crawl space in a Dutch home.

The weekly magazine was produced from August 1943 up until his liberation in April 1945.

Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret, Magazine cover from 03.04.1945 — Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret, Magazine cover from Apr. 3, 1945 Het Onderwater Cabaret 30 Aug 1943; Jewish Museum Berlin, Convolute/816, Curt Bloch collection, loaned by the Charities Aid Foundation America thanks to the generous support of Curt Blochʼs family

His work will be featured next year in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum Berlin from Feb. 9 to May 26.

“We think that he was probably inspired to create the magazine in response to a radio program that was broadcast on Dutch radio, a fascist program, anti-Semitic program, which was called in an English translation, ‘Sunday Midday Cabaret,’” said Aubrey Pomerance, one of the curators for the exhibit and the head of archives at the Jewish Museum Berlin. “It was a propaganda broadcast.”

Black, gray and orange illustration of a woman — Curt Bloch, Het Onderwater Cabaret, Magazine cover from 03.02.1945Het Onderwater Cabaret 30 Aug 1943; Jewish Museum Berlin, Convolute/816, Curt Bloch collection, loaned by the Charities Aid Foundation America thanks to the generous support of Curt Blochʼs family

Listen to The World’s interview by host Carol Hills with Aubrey Pomerance about Curt Bloch’s political art and life after World War II by clicking on the audio player above.