Artist, Theatre Designer. The most influential Czech set designer of his era, he brought new visual approaches to plays ranging from Shakespearean tragedy to contemporary satire. Zelenka was born into a Jewish family in Kutna Horta, Bohemia. Trained as an architect, he began his theatrical career in 1926 creating scenery and posters for Prague's National Theatre and was soon receiving commissions from performance venues all over the country. His work of the 1930s was particularly fresh and innovative, blending Surrealist, Dada, and Bauhaus influences into an irreverent style; during this period he was closely associated with the Liberated Theatre, starring the popular satircal duo of Jiri (George) Voscovec and Jan Werich. Among his credits were the plays "Fata Morgana" (1930), "Don Juan & Co." (1931), and "Caesar" (1931). Confined to Prague's Jewish Ghetto following the Nazi occupation, Zelenka was deported to the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp in July 1942. There he was employed in the Cultural Department of the Freizeitgestaltung ("Administration for Free Time Activities"), which oversaw the camp's unique theatre scene. Improvising with scanty materials, he managed to render imaginative sets and costumes for 27 productions. The most famous was Hans Krasa's opera for children, "Brundibar" (1943), for which Zelenka also acted as producer; it received 55 performances. He also designed Petr Kien's satirical play "Puppets" (1943), Kurt Gerron's cabaret revue "The Carousel" (1944), and Viktor Ullmann's opera "The Emperor of Atlantis", though the latter was banned by the SS in rehearsals. On October 19, 1944, Zelenka was sent to Auschwitz and put to death in its gas chamber. Most of his design sketches were preserved by his mother, who survived at Theresienstadt until its liberation by the Allies; they were later acquired by the National Museum in Prague. A retrospective of Zelenka's work was held in London in 1994.