Melodies of Auschwitz
Behind the Music: Bret Werb and Shoah Songs
Virtually everyone has listened to a popular song with its lyrics changed for comedic or dramatic effect. But a perhaps little-known fact of the Holocaust is that this type of parody was also a common practice in some of the most hellish places on Earth: concentration camps.
Los Angeles, Aug. 10, 2015 – USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, in collaboration with the USC Thornton School of Music, will be hosting scholars from around the world for two days of programming on Oct. 10 - 11 to highlight the use of music as a tool to resist oppression and spread awareness.
Comcast 2015: "Music Saved My Life"
Three Holocaust survivors describe incredible stories of how music quite literally saved their lives in the Days of Remembrance film Music Saved My Life.
Comcast’s Days of Remembrance: PastFORWARD Broadcast Returns April 15
Comcast subscribers will be able to watch USC Shoah Foundation testimonies and films exploring the theme of music on Comcast’s second annual Days of Remembrance: PastFORWARD broadcast.
One Last Time
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch had a lucky moment while being processed at the Sauna in Auschwitz-Birkenau. One of the girls processing her asked her what she did prior to landing in that place of unspeakable horror. “I played the cello,” she answered. That surreal conversation, not far from the gas chambers at Birkenau, would save her life. As a member of the Auschwitz women's orchestra, playing the cello meant respite from heavy labor.
‘Lost Music of the Holocaust’ Performed by Survivor’s Grandson
June 18 saw the U.S. premiere of a set of piano variations on a Polish patriotic theme composed in the Dachau concentration camp by prisoner of war Leon Kaczmarek (1903–1973). Kaczmarek’s composition was performed by 17-year-old pianist Nicholas Biniaz-Harris, winner of the National Symphony Orchestra’s 2013 Young Soloists’ Competition.