Thursday, March 6, 2014

Alice Herz Sommer - Holocaust Survivor


Alice Herz Sommer was the oldest Holocaust survivor until she died in London on February 23, 2014 at the age of 110.

She was a classic pianist who mastered the works of Chopin. That allowed her to survive the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp run by the Nazis during World War II.

She was sent there in 1943 after her family was rounded up in Czechoslovakia. A certain death awaited her until her musical talent was discovered. She was forced to perform in over 100 concerts for prisoners and guards during her ordeal that saved her from the fate suffered by so many other prisoners.

After the war, she emigrated to Israel where she taught music until moving to London in the 1980's.