Konstruisanje alternativnog života: muzika i pozorište u srpskim zarobljeničkim logorima Austro-Ugarske u Prvom svetskom ratu

Abstract

Zarobljenički logori iz vremena Velikog rata predstavljaju relativno novu tematsku oblast humanistike. Ovo transnacionalno i interdisciplinarno naučno područje odnosi se na logorski život preko osam miliona ljudi koji su se tokom rata nalazili u zarobljeništvu na obe sukobljene strane. Pored bazičnih proučavanja vezanih za utvrđivanje tačnog broja logora, zatočenika i žrtava, te sagledavanja problema poput bolesti i čestog masovnog umiranja, pojedina istraživanja fokusiraju se na sasvim specifi čne teme iz svakodnevice logorskog života, aspekte nacionalizma, roda, orijentalizma i druge problemske sfere iz oblasti savremenih studija kulture. Posebnu alternativu uobičajenim narativima u tom kontekstu predstavljaju razmatranja umetnosti i kreativnosti kao značajnih strategija opstanka u logorskim uslovima. Ovaj rad, kojim se po prvi put u muzikologiji pokreće tema o muzičkim praksama u srpskim zarobljeničkim logorima tokom Prvog svetskog rata, inspirisan je takvim pristupima.

The period of the Great War brought to Serbian culture and arts completely different conditions of work and functioning when compared with the pre-war years. Music itself, confronted with various war-time contexts, formed part of the adaptation to new circumstances which often changed because of war events. The reorganization of both military music and civilian musicians and ensembles started already in the first half of 1916, immediately after the army and numerous civilians crossed Montenegro and Albania on their way to allied countries and their colonies. Some elite composers worked as musicians in French, British and other west-European musical centres. At the same time musical activities were even organized in prison camps where professional and amateur musicians could be found among the Serbian citizens. Prisoner-of-war camps represent a relatively new topic area of humanities. This transnational and interdisciplinary field relates to the lives of over eight million prisoners on both sides of the war. In addition to basic studies related to determining the exact number of camps, prisoners and victims, as well as looking at problems such as illness and frequent mass death, contemporary research also focuses on everyday life of camp prisoners, aspects of nationalism, gender, orientalism and other approaches that are characteristic of cultural studies. A special alternative to the usual narratives is the consideration of art and creativity as significant strategies of survival in war captivity conditions. This article refers to such issues, and for the first time in musicology raises the topic of musical practices in Serbian prisoners camps during the Great War. The text is based on archival research of documents stored in the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia, as well as manuscript periodicals kept in the National Library of Serbia. According to analysis of available materials, one part of the text presents music on Serbian theatrical scenes in the Austro-Hungarian prison camps in Boldogasszony, Aschach and Grödig, including information on some amateur and professional musicians that have not been known in music history so far. The other part is focused on various contextualisations of mentioned musical practices that are observed as (1) a tool of alleviating of difficult everyday life and suppressing of prisoner depression, (2) an imaginary field of nation, state and freedom, (3) a place of memory, nostalgia, oblivion and fun, (4) a mediator between various social, national and confessional groups from the both side of the war, (5) a strategy of providing material conditions for the survival of musicians and actors, as well as their humanitarian action. Therefore, this is a story of constructing an alternative life, which represented both escapist detachment from camp reality and opposition to it.