A Century of Wisdom

February 15, 2012
A survivor of Theresienstadt and a world-class Czech pianist shares her amazing story of survival and triumph. Now living in London since she relocated from Jerusalem to be closer to her only son (now deceased), Herz-Sommer is shortly turning 108, still playing the piano, disciplined and abstemious in her daily habits and fairly active, as Stoessinger records over interviews with her between 2004 and 2011. These are short segments that amplify important aspects of her life, such as her acquaintanceship as a young girl in Prague with Franz Kafka and his circle, her happy though too-brief marriage and successful early career as a concert pianist and teacher, the birth of her son in 1937 just as the Nazis were exerting their terror over the Jewish community in Prague and their abrupt deportation to Theresienstadt in 1943. Much of her biography is accessible from Melissa Muller's Alice's Piano (2012). However, what Stoessinger's work reveals startlingly and firsthand are details of life in the concentration camp, especially how the musicians coped with the horrible conditions and even formed a vibrant community. Herz-Sommer held many concerts--this is no doubt what kept her from being deported to Auschwitz, as her husband was--and astoundingly, she had to play mostly from memory, like all the musicians. "Every concert played there," Stoessinger writes, "became a moral victory against the enemy." The making of the propaganda film The Fuhrer Gives the Jews a City reveals the sadistic cynicism of the Nazis, who had promised the prisoner filmmaker leniency to make the film, then promptly deported him to Auschwitz when it was completed. Rounding out this work are memories from Herz-Sommer's students and friends, reflections on favorite authors such as Spinoza, Rilke and Zweig and even recipes. A sweetly affecting collection that will supplement more substantive biographies.

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October 1, 2011

As an inmate at the Theresienstadt concentration camp who performed more than 100 concerts for her fellow inmates, pianist Alice Herz-Sommer is now 107--the oldest living Holocaust survivor. Though she lost many family members and friends to the Nazis, she opted to move on. This work by Stoessinger, a pianist and founding director of the Mozart Academy of New York, seems less a biography than an inspirational life-lessons piece (which does leave me unsettled, given the subject). Rights sales to ten countries and Herz-Sommer's YouTube popularity suggest that this book will be big.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
Renowned pianist, music teacher, and Holocaust survivor Herz-Sommer shares intimate memories, harrowing experiences, and valuable life lessons. Recognized as the world's oldest Holocaust survivor at 107, her legacy and her wisdom extend far beyond the years she spent at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Fellow musician and documentarian Stoessinger became acquainted with Herz-Sommer while working on a film about her life. From countless hours and interviews conducted over the course of several years, she has mined a treasure trove of insight and reflection. Herz-Sommer's life is a tribute to the purity of artistic endeavor under the most devastating circumstances, and her refusal to be bitterly defined or essentially reshaped by tragedy is a testament to moral and spiritual courage. As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles, it becomes increasingly important to capture and communicate their individual stories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)