ALICE'S PIANO: The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer by Melissa Mueller and Reinhardt Piechocki.
Alice Herz-Sommer had begun a promising career as a young concert pianist from Prague, but when the Nazis rose to power, her world crumbled. In 1942, her mother was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and vanished. In 1943, Alice, her husband and their six-year-old son were sent there, too. In the midst of horror, music, especially Chopin's Etudes, was Alice's salvation. Theresienstadt (or Terezin) was a "show camp", a living slice of Nazi propaganda created to convince outsiders that the Jews were being treated humanely. In more than a hundred concerts, Alice gave her fellow prisoners (and herself) hope in a time of suffering. Written with the cooperation of Alice Herz-Sommer, Alice's Piano is the first time her full story has been told. At 109 years old, she continues daily to play her piano in London and to inspire millions with her indomitable story of courage and hope.
368 pp. Hardback.
