Alice’s Piano

A Biography by Melissa Muller and Reinhard Piechocki, 2006

“Music was our way of remembering our inner selves, our values.”

Alice Herz-Sommer was born in Prague in 1903. A talented pianist, she was becoming increasingly famous throughout Europe as the Nazis rose to power. In 1943, Alice, her husband and their six-year-old son were sent to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp where Nazis staged and filmed cultural events to deceive the world about the horrors of the Holocaust. While she was imprisoned, Alice gave more than 100 concerts, providing solace to her fellow prisoners during a time of immense suffering. Music, especially Chopin’s Etudes, was Alice’s salvation.

PCM faculty perform selections from Chopin’s Etudes and other pieces that give voice to the Jewish experience.

Alice’s Piano may be ordered through Vroman’s Bookstore.