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Created in hiding during WWII, a Jewish artist's underground ’zines are finally rising to the surface

JL;DR SUMMARY Curt Bloch was a Jewish lawyer who fled Nazi Germany and, while hiding in the Netherlands during WWII, created a unique form of resistance through his clandestine zines called "The Underwater Cabaret." A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustWwiiNazi GermanyJewish ResistanceSatireJewish Museum BerlinCurt BlochZinesTransgenerational TraumaCreative Defiance

Places mentioned

Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands
"hiding from the Germans and their Dutch collaborators in an attic crawl space in Enschede, Holland,"
The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands
"Curt stopped first in the Hague and then settled in Amsterdam,"
Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
"and then settled in Amsterdam, working odd jobs,"
Queens, New York, United States
"were like all the other antiques in the Queens home furnished by her parents,"
New York, United States
"her parents, who traveled to Europe on buying trips for their Midtown store,"
Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
"In 1933, Curt Bloch was in his early 20s and living in his native city of Dortmund."
Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany
"He is a graphic designer in Wiesbaden whose grandfathers were Nazis."

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Cairo Item ID 74793
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Retrieved 2026-02-07 05:30:49 UTC
Curated 2026-02-07 08:30:45 UTC