Renowned children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak collaborated with playwright Tony Kushner to adapt Brundibar, a children’s opera written in 1938 by Czech composer Hans Krása, into a book and a play.

Brundibar is a work with a dark history; it was performed over 50 times in the Czech concentration camp Terezin. The one-act parable contains political commentary hidden within a children’s opera, and offers messages of hope and of triumph over evil.

In this episode of New York Voices, Maurice Sendak discusses the impact of the Holocaust on his life and why adapting Brundibar has been so important to him.