Wosiewicz, Leszek, dir. Kornblumenblau

Kornblumenblau is a Polish movie directed by Leszek Wosiewicz that follows Tadeusz, an accordionist and pianist imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau, to comment on the cacophonous soundscape of the concentration camp, the use of music as a tool of perpetration, and the position of musicians as accomplices of the Holocaust. The movie’s title (‘Cornflower Blue’) comes from a German folk melody that Tadeusz is assigned to play for his Blockführer during their private meetings. 

The film entwines in its symbolism the camp aesthetic with strikingly naturalistic images. It opens with the scene of Tadeusz’s arrival in Auschwitz, which is set against the camp choir howling “Lore, Lore, Lore” in the background. The impersonal and dehumanizing questions the Kapo asks Tadeusz (“Who is to be informed about the death?”) brought together with the lyrics of the German song (“I see pretty girls everywhere”) indicate two factors comprising the concentration camp, namely death and sexual desire. As the film continues, it becomes apparent that the forced music making almost equals the forced sexual labor of both male prisoners, suggestively dressed up in women’s clothes when visiting the camp’s administrators, and female inmates, placed in the Lagerbordell. 

Food is another integral part of the film’s symbolics. Initially, an additional bowl of soup is a reward for entertaining the Blockführer with folk music. Subsequently, soup is offered to Tadeusz prior to intercourse when he visits the Lagerbordell. Ultimately, in the middle of a dinner party thrown for the Nazi officers, Tadeusz, who this time serves as a pianist, has an opportunity to enjoy a full main course with a pint of beer; he eats the meal to the characteristic ringtones that, in the Catholic liturgy, announce the act of transubstantiation. These examples demonstrate that in the circumstances of imprisonment in the concentration camp, hunger becomes a kind of desire whose fulfillment is equal to an erotic or transcendental experience. 

The movie raises the question of complicity either through these symbolic scenes or through explicit remarks that appear in conversations between privileged prisoners: the musicians who managed to move to the artists’ block admit the guilt tied to their privileged position, describing themselves as “cockroaches in golden carapaces” that survive when at the same time, “thousands of others go from the ramp straight to the gas chambers”. This awareness is a burden that the musicians cannot divest themselves of. 

Kornblumenblau, thus, is a cinematographically sophisticated film that addresses the complexity of imprisonment in the concentration camp. The movie critically comments on the topics of violence committed through music; the status of musicians in the camp’s hierarchy; and sexual violence not limited to one gender only.

Author of this entry: Mateusz Miesiac.

Wosiewicz, Leszek, dir. Kornblumenblau. Łódź, Poland: Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych, 1989.