Today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Ten years ago I was there for the 60th anniversary, documenting the making of a film by director James Kent, remembering the role that music played in Auschwitz. There were several orchestras in the camp, made up of inmates, who were forced to play for the entertainment of SS officers, and as a musical accompaniment to executions.
For this film, ‘Holocaust: a Music Memorial’, renowned musicians came from near and far to perform in Auschwitz; it was the first time that music had been played here since the camps were occupied. ‘Music is an abomination in the wrong hands,’ said the director, ‘but I think it can now be a sort of requiem to the dead.’
In this picture, John Axelrod conducts the Sinfonietta Krakovia performing Gorecki’s Symphony No 3 in a former munitions factory at Auschwitz.
