Bach in Auschwitz

From 1943 until war's end a group of more than forty female musicians were assembled at the infamous death camp Auschwitz, commanded to play for the perverse pleasure of the SS and possibly to pacify arriving prisoners. Motivated by the will to survive plus a few small privileges such as extra bread rations, the women overcame their terror and performed under the supervision of violinist Alma Rose (a blood relation of Gustav Mahler), who became a mother figure to the young women (after her sudden death, Rose earned a rare funeral tribute from the Nazis). Ranging from Europe to Israel and the United States, this documentary tracks down eleven elderly but spirited orchestra survivors, who recall (in mostly subtitled English) the horrors of camp life, those strange twists of fate that could mean the difference between life and death, and their continuing sense of guilt over "playing for time"--using music to delay extermination (the story was also chronicled in the Emmy award winning 1980 TV movie, Playing for Time). The most moving moments occur during reunions between orchestra members and on a solemn return to Auschwitz, in which two survivors pay a tearful tribute to leader Alma Rose. Although fighting age and memory loss, these women are still motivated by a strong need to bear witness. Ably directed by Michel Daeron, Bach in Auschwitz may strain the patience of some viewers due to its leisurely pace, but it will yield ample rewards. Recommended for most Holocaust collections, this is a good companion volume to the stirring documentary about the women's voice orchestra in a WWII Japanese internment camp, Song of Survival (VL-9/89), later fictionalized in Bruce Beresford's 1997 feature film Paradise Road (reviewed on VL Online). Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)