Apr 18, 2012
For
World Holocaust Memorial Day, Claudia Cragg speaks with pianist
and author
Caroline Stoessinger about
her new book on the life of
Alice Herz-Sommer, the world’s oldest living Holocaust
Survivor. At 108 years old, the pianist Herz-Sommer is an
eyewitness to the entire last century and the first decade of this
one. She has seen it all, surviving the
Theresienstadt concentration camp, attending the
trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and along the way coming
into contact with some of the most fascinating historical figures
of our time. As a child in Prague, she spent weekends and holidays
in the company of
Franz Kafka (whom she knew as “Uncle Franz”), and Gustav
Mahler, Sigmund Freud, and Rainer Maria Rilke were friendly with
her mother. When Alice moved to Israel after the war, Golda Meir
attended her house concerts, as did Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard
Bernstein, and Isaac Stern. Today Alice lives in London, where she
still practices piano for hours every day.
Despite her imprisonment in Theresienstadt and the murders of her
mother, husband, and friends by the Nazis, and much later the
premature death of her son, Alice has been victorious in her
ability to live a life without bitterness. She credits music as the
key to her survival, as well as her ability to acknowledge the
humanity in each person, even her enemies. A
Century of Wisdom is
the remarkable and inspiring story of one woman’s lifelong
determination—in the face of some of the worst evils known to
man—to find goodness in life. It is a testament to the bonds of
friendship, the power of music, and the importance of leading a
life of material simplicity, intellectual curiosity, and
never-ending optimism.