Oldest-known Holocaust survivor dies at 110

[Loaded Liberal Dem]

Source: USA Today

LONDON (AP) — Alice Herz-Sommer, believed to be the oldest-known survivor of the Holocaust, died Sunday morning in London at age 110, a family member said. Herz-Sommer's devotion to the piano and to her son sustained her through two years in a Nazi prison camp, and a film about her has been nominated for best short documentary at next week's Academy Awards.

She died in a hospital Sunday morning after being admitted Friday, daughter-in-law Genevieve Sommer said.

"We all came to believe that she would just never die," said Frederic Bohbot, producer of the documentary "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life." ''There was no question in my mind, 'would she ever see the Oscars.'"

An accomplished pianist, Herz-Sommer, her husband and her son were sent from Prague in 1943 to a concentration camp in the Czech city of Terezin — Theresienstadt in German — where inmates were allowed to stage concerts in which she frequently starred.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/23/oldest-holocaust-survivor-dies/5758061/

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I'm totally agnostic, but Godspeed, ma'mm.

[Galileo126]

1. olav ha-sholom - nt.

[Botany]

2. No words .... 24 Etudes of Frederic Chopin

"From then on, she took refuge in the 24 Etudes of Frederic Chopin, a dauntingly
difficult monument of the repertoire. She labored at them for up to eight hours
a day."

[sarge43]

3. Peace, gallant lady.

[Walk away]

4. Growing up I met many camp survivors.

I was brought up in Teaneck, N.J. in the 50s and 60s. It was not unusual for my friend's grandparents to show their number and tell their story. Some had lost their entire families and started new ones here in the States. The dead were like a shadow family, as if they were still alive but far away.
Every generation was effected by a deep sadness but they lived vibrant full lives. Incredible that anyone could claim it never happened.

[NYC_SKP]

8. I will never forget the first time I saw a tattoo on a survivor's arm, in an elevator in Manhattan.

Up in Washington Heights. We all read about these things but they happened in a different time and a different place.

And then, one day, there it is.

The reality of it, the person, the victim, the crime.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. I was 13 living in Cleveland...

I asked my grandmother's boss what his tattoo meant. It was quite the history lesson.

[LiberalElite]

13. In the late '60s

in the summer, I'd often see an elderly man with a number tattooed on his forearm on the D train in the Bronx.

[TBF]

14. I first met 2 survivors in the 90s -

and toured the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC that same decade. It is very hard to forget these things once you've seen them.

[Timez Squarez]

15. My grandfather had one..

Survived Auschwitz....

[SoapBox]

5. Wow...110.

Best wishes...for a swift journey...to reunite with loved family and friends, that have passed before you.

Nazis and concentration camps...we must never, EVER forget.

[Boomerproud]

6. Every response to this thread is a tribute to a remarkable woman.

I wish I had profound words to add to my thoughts. She lived through hell and now is in heaven.

[azurnoir]

7. God speed Madam may you play for heaven

this is an excerpt from the film

[LongTomH]

9. More YouTube tributes to this wonderful lady and her message to the world!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. They must mean the oldest that was an adult at the time....

Robert Clary who played Corporal Louis LeBeau on Hogans Heroes was a child when he was liberated from Buchenwald.

He's still alive and has the tattoo.

[7962]

12. At first, I read "oldest" to mean "last", but realized what it really meant. nt

[dflprincess]

18. I never knew he had been in a camp

I wonder if he signed on with "Hogan's Heroes" for the same reason Werner Klemperer did - enjoying making the Nazis look like fools.

BTW after my post - I couldn't resist looking him up. He is "only" 87. There could be survivors older than he.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. You may enjoy this...

[dflprincess]

20. "Enjoy" isn't quite the word I'd use but thank you for posting these

Very hard to watch at times but something in me says we have a duty to watch and listen to the stories of the survivors and the GIs who went into the camps. Now if we can get the next generations to listen as well.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. Let's just say, "enjoy" in the sense of enlightenment.

[NNadir]

16. There was a very beautiful book about inmate musicians at Terezin, "Terezin Requiem" by Joseph Bor.

It's powerful and its moving, and I recommend that anyone interested in the Holocaust read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Terezin-Requiem-Josef-Bor/dp/0380016737

[struggle4progress]

17. Alice Herz Sommer BBC Interview

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. And the documentary won the Oscar last night

The second British win of the night went to director Malcolm Clarke, who won an Oscar for his documentary short The Lady in Number Six: Music Saved My Life.

The film follows Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest known survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and an accomplished pianist. Paying tribute to Herz-Sommer, who died last week at the age of 110, he praised "her extraordinary capacity for joy and amazing capacity for forgiveness".

"She taught everyone on my crew to be a little bit more optimistic," he added, dedicating his award to her.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26383484

[nolkyz]

23. Righteous!

Alice doesn't live here anymore, but I have a feeling she's playing piano, right this minute, for a much Higher audience.

[Kablooie]

24. It's an amazing documentary. Worth seeing.

Mainly because of her.
She lived and breathed music every day of her life and it's what saved her in the concentration camp.