The article discusses the social and cultural life among the Jewish prisoners at the Skarżysko-Kamienna forced labor camp in central Poland. The activities included organized observances of religious and national customs and creative arts and performances of many kinds. The activitles served several functions for the artists and audiences. Whether as a source of income in the struggle for physical survival, or as a psychological escape from the terrible reality of daily life in the camp, or as a unlfying element for the fragmented prisoner population, or as a from of political resistance, these social and cultural activities in the camp constitute a singular phenomenon in the history of the Holocaust. © 1994 by Oxford University Press.

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education Social Values Social Control Policies Ceremonial Behavior leisure social psychology economics physiology psychological aspect mental health daily life activity prisoner war work Poland Activities of Daily Living Prisoners ethnology religion social control Jew Jews cultural factor Article prison history symbolism Concentration Camps World War II legal aspect History, 20th Century Cultural Characteristics Holidays social behavior