Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 17 July 1925) is a German-British cellist, and a surviving member of the
Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz (''Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz''; lit. "Girls' Orchestra of Auschwitz") was formed by order of the SS in 1943, during the Holocaust, in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp in German-occupied Poland. ...
.
Family
Lasker was born into a German Jewish family in
Breslau, then Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland), one of three sisters (Marianne and Renate). Her father Alfons, brother of noted chessmaster
Edward Lasker
Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of ...
, was a lawyer; her mother a violinist.
[ They suffered discrimination during the 1930s as the Nazis rose to power in Germany, but as her father had fought at the front in ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, gaining an Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...
, the family felt some degree of immunity from Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
persecution.[
]
World War II
Marianne, the eldest sister, fled to England in 1939, the only family member to escape the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
on the European mainland. In April 1942, Lasker's parents were taken away and are believed to have died near Lublin
Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...
in Poland.[ Anita and Renate were not ]deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
as they were working in a paper factory. There they met French prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
and started forging papers to enable French forced labour
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
ers to cross back into France.[
]"I could never accept that I should be killed for what I happened to be born as, and decided to give the Germans a better reason for killing me."
In September 1942 they tried to escape to France, but were arrested for forgery by the Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
at Breslau station. Only their suitcase, which they had already put on the train, escaped. The Gestapo were anxious about its loss, and carefully noted its size and colour.[
]"I had been in prison for about a year. Then one day I was called down. A suitcase has arrived: could I identify it? It was my suitcase. They stole everything, they killed everybody, but that suitcase really mattered to them. They had found the suitcase and everything was fine, though I never saw it again because it then went into the vaults of the prison and later I saw a guard wearing one of my dresses."
Concentration camps
Anita and Renate were sent to Auschwitz in December 1943 on separate prison trains, a far less squalid way to arrive than by cattle truck, and less dangerous, since there was no selection on arrival.[ Playing in the ]Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz
The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz (''Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz''; lit. "Girls' Orchestra of Auschwitz") was formed by order of the SS in 1943, during the Holocaust, in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp in German-occupied Poland. ...
saved her, as cello players were difficult to replace. The orchestra played marches as the slave labourers left the camp for each day's work and when they returned. They also gave concerts for the SS.[
By October 1944, the ]Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
were advancing and Auschwitz was evacuated. Anita was taken on a train with 3,000 others to Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...
[ and survived for six months with almost nothing to eat.][ After the liberation by the ]British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
she was first transferred to a nearby displaced persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...
. Her sister Renate, who could speak English, became an interpreter with the British Army.[
During the Belsen Trial, which took place from September to November 1945, Anita testified against the camp commandant ]Josef Kramer
Josef Kramer (10 November 1906 – 13 December 1945) was Hauptsturmführer and the Commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau (from 8 May 1944 to 25 November 1944) and of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (from December 1944 to its liberation on 15 Apr ...
, camp doctor Fritz Klein
Fritz Klein (24 November 1888 – 13 December 1945) was an Austrian Nazi doctor and war criminal, hanged for his role in atrocities at Auschwitz concentration camp and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Early life and educ ...
, and deputy camp commandant Franz Hössler
Franz Hößler, also Franz Hössler (; 4 February 1906 – 13 December 1945) was a Nazi German SS-''Obersturmführer'' and ''Schutzhaftlagerführer'' at the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dora-Mittelbau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps during World W ...
, who were all sentenced to death and hanged that year.[
]
Post-war
In 1946, Anita and Renate moved to Great Britain with the help of Marianne. Anita married the pianist Peter Wallfisch and is mother to two children; her son is the cellist Raphael Wallfisch
Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953 in London) is a British cellist and professor of cello. As a soloist he performs regularly with leading orchestras around the world, as well as together with duo partner John York (piano), or as member of the ...
, and her daughter, Maya Jacobs-Wallfisch, is a psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
. Wallfisch co-founded the English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...
(ECO), performing as both a member and as a solo artist, and toured internationally. Her grandson is the composer Benjamin Wallfisch
Benjamin Mark Lasker Wallfisch (born 7 August 1979) is a British composer, conductor, orchestrator, and producer of film scores. Since the mid-2000s, he has worked on over 75 feature films, including composing original scores for '' Blade Ru ...
.
After nearly 50 years away from Germany, she finally returned there on tour with the ECO in 1994. Since that time, and as a witness and victim of the Nazi period, she has visited German and Austrian schools to talk about and explain her experiences. On this note, she promotes the work for the New Kreisau, in Poland, as well as the work of the Freya von Moltke Foundation and the Kreisau Circles legacy. In 1996 she published her memoir ''Inherit the Truth''.
Over the years, she has told her life-story in numerous oral history interviews, for example in the Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive (1998) and the online archive Forced Labor 1939–1945 (2006). She was interviewed by National Life Stories
National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...
(C410/186) in 2000 for 'The Living Memory of the Jewish Community' collection held by the British Library.[National Life Stories, 'Lasker-Wallfisch (1 of 11) National Life Stories Collection: 'The Living Memory of the Jewish Community', The British Library Board, 2000]
retrieved 7 October 2017.
In 2011, she received an Honorary degree as Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
from Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
.
In 2018, she gave a commemorative speech in the Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
to mark the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.["Deutscher Bundestag, Remembering the victims of National Socialism with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch"](_blank)
31 January 2018; retrieved 5 February 2018.
In December 2019 Lasker was part of a ''60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' story about the music written and performed by prisoners in Auschwitz being preserved by Francesco Lotoro.
In December 2020 Lasker was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was conferred by the Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...
. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the presentation of the award until 20 May 2021, when Andreas Michaelis, the German Ambassador in London
The Embassy of Germany in London is the diplomatic mission of Germany in the United Kingdom. The embassy is located at Belgrave Square, in Belgravia. It occupies three of the original terraced houses in Belgrave Square and a late 20th-century ex ...
, presented it in a small informal event at his residence. Paraphrasing the presidential award, Michaelis commented: "To this day, you have helped keep the memory of the Holocaust alive for future generations. Germany is profoundly grateful to you for this."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasker-Wallfisch, Anita
1925 births
Living people
German classical cellists
World War II civilian prisoners
Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors
Children in the Holocaust
Silesian Jews
People from the Province of Lower Silesia
Musicians from Wrocław
German emigrants to the United Kingdom
Jewish German writers
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
German women classical cellists
British cellists
Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz members
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia
Jewish women musicians
Jewish classical musicians
British women classical cellists
Jewish British musicians
British women memoirists