Esther Béjarano ( Löwy; 15 December 1924 – 10 July 2021) was one of the last survivors of the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

. She survived because she was a player in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. She was active in various ways, including speeches and in music, in keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive. She was a regular speaker at the International Youth Meeting organised yearly at the Max Mannheimer Study Center in

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

Biography

Born Esther Löwy, she was a daughter of Margarete (Heymann) and Rudolf Loewy, the head

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

of a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

municipality, in

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

. Her father encouraged her to get interested in music and Esther learned to play the piano. At the age of 15 she left her parents' home to make an attempt to emigrate to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

; the attempt was unsuccessful. She served two years of hard labour at a camp in , near Fürstenwalde/Spree. On 20 April 1943, everyone in the camp was deported to the

. There she had to drag stones until she volunteered to play

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

in the newly formed Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. Until then, she had only played the piano, never the accordion. Other players included

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (born 17 July 1925) is a German-British cellist, and a surviving member of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz. Family Lasker was born into a German Jewish family in present-day Wrocław, Poland, then-Breslau, Germany. Sh ...

. The orchestra had the task, among others, to play for the daily march of the work crews passing through the camp gate. After the war, she immigrated to Palestine on 15 September 1945 and in 1960 returned to Germany with her husband and two children. At the beginning of the 1980s, she created the musical group Coincidence, with her daughter Edna and her son Joram. They sang songs from the ghetto and in Hebrew as well as anti-fascist songs. Esther Bejarano

Béjarano lived in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. She was a co-founder and chairman of the

International Auschwitz Committee The International Auschwitz Committee was formed by survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz death camp in 1952 for the support of the survivors and to fight racism and anti-Semitism. The committee's mission was to maintain contac ...

and honorary chairperson of the

Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

. She was active for the Committee until her death. Béjarano died in Hamburg on 10 July 2021, aged 96. She was one of the last surviving orchestra members.

Awards and honours

Béjarano was awarded the

Carl von Ossietzky Medal The (ILMR) has awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal since 1962. The league has honored personalities, initiatives or organizations who have worked with civil courage and outstanding commitment to the realization of human rights annually since 1962 ...

of the in 2004. In 2008, Béjarano became honorary president of the

. She received the Herbert Wehner Medal in 2010. Béjarano held the Cross of Merit, First class, of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, since 2012. She was honoured with ethecon's 2013 "Blue Planet Award" for her "relentless activity for peace and against

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, racism and fascism". In 2014, she was awarded the Giesbert Lewin Prize of the Cologne chapter of the Societies for Christian-Jewish Collaboration. She became honorary citizen of her birth town Saarlouis the same year on the occasion of her 90th birthday. In 2016, she received the Preis für Solidarität und Menschenwürde (Prize for solidarity and human dignity) of the . The

Senate of Hamburg The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Hamburg is a city-state and municipality, and thus its governance deals with several details of both state and local community politics. It takes place in two ...

awarded her the in 2019. The Gemeinschaftsschule school in

Wiesloch Wiesloch (, locally ; South Franconian: ''Wissloch'') is a town in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 13 kilometres south of Heidelberg. After Weinheim, Sinsheim and Leimen, it is the fourth largest town in the Rhein-Neckar-K ...

was named after her in 2020. The same year, she was awarded the

Hermann Maas Hermann Ludwig Maas (; 5 August 1877 – 27 September 1970) was a Protestant minister, a doctor of theology and named one of the ''Righteous Among the Nations'',Yad Vashem: "Hermann Maas"' a title given by the Israeli organization for study an ...

Prize for her activities against racism and exclusion, and for her political commitment."Esther Bejarano erhält den Hermann-Maas-Preis"
(in German) ''Jüdische Allgemeine'', 15 October 2020

Publications

* * ''Lieder für das Leben''. Curio-Verlag, Hamburg 1995, . * ''Man nannte mich Krümel''. Curio-Verlag, Hamburg 1989, .

Film

''Esther che suonava la fisarmonica nell’orchestra di Auschwitz''
Regia di Elena Valsania, Felìz – Edizioni SEB27, DVD allegato al volume: Esther Béjarano, "La ragazza con la fisarmonica. Dall’orchestra di Auschwitz alla musica Rap", A cura di Antonella Romeo, Prefazione di Bruno Maida, Edizioni SEB27, 2013;

References

External links

* *

(audio play, excerpts, in German),

Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (), shortened to RB () is Germany's smallest Public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster and the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerha ...