The Rebel Pianist of Majdanek: A Holocaust Story of Music and Survival in a Nazi Death Camp

by Nicola Pittam

'A moving and uplifting story of one woman’s fight against the Nazis through her love of music. It will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.' John Marrs, author of The One and The Marriage Act

Former Polish teenage piano prodigy Mosha Gebert is teaching when the Nazis come for her. They kill her student, but she is taken to Majdanek concentration camp. There, Commandant Josef Hanke spots her and recognises her as the pianist he fell in love with years earlier.

Hanke demands that Mosha play ‘Ode to Joy’ for him, but she refuses. She will never play in such a horrific place – or for such an evil monster. So begins a battle of wills and repeated torture. Even when Hanke causes her to lose her hearing, Mosha refuses to play.

When Mosha’s sister arrives in the camp, Hanke tries to use her as leverage but Mosha is steadfast in her refusal to play. Even when her sister is sent to the camp brothel, Mosha does not waver.

Hanke finally turns his anger on Mosha, breaking one of her fingers. She convinces prison guard Elsa to smash the rest of her fingers with a rock.

Mosha believes crippling herself is the only way for her to survive and triumph over Hanke, but what will this do to him? Will Hanke forgive her? Or will this last desperate act finally push him over the edge?

249 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2024

Reviews

[Page Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Ad Lib Publishers!

Due to the nature and topic of this book I will be keeping this very brief and to the point.

I am unable to give this a higher rating because I felt the writing lacked consistency in tone and intensity. Some parts felt rushed and some parts felt overworked and while some parts seemed underplayed there were parts that were completely overplayed.

[Book_Worm_Jim.83 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in about a week. I would have read it faster but life just got in the way. Sadly I have to work to buy books. I’ve not hey found the job where I can get paid to read!

A powerful read, not the first story I’ve read about Auschwitz but a great story of courage, determination and pride. Of love and of hate. As a result of this I started to listen to some (not all) classical music. I’m the last person my friends would have said like classical music.

The power of a story in a book can change people, change lives and people’s outlook on the world we’re lucky to live in today.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rebel Pianist of Majdanek by Nicola Pittam is a Historical Fiction Holocaust story based on real life pianist Mosha Gebert who, as a teenager, skillfully played with passion and emotion which affected people tremendously. Mosha's delicate hands were her life and she went to great lengths to protect them. When she was forced to the killing camp Majdanek, Commandant Josef Hanke recognized the girl he fell in love with years earlier as she played at a concert. He ordered her to play for him over and over but she refused as she would not play on a Nazi's terms, even on pain of death. Dignity was more important to her. Unfortunately, her bunkmates suffered from starvation due to her stance so daily existence for them grew even more desperate. Many women understandably despised her. Every day they were humiliated, tortured, punished, worked, endured insects and so much more. Even when Mosha's sister was forced into SS prostitution, she did not waver. In a way her actions are incomprehensible, yet I admire her motives. We would not know how we would react under such deplorable conditions.

Music played unique roles in these camps from gathering prisoners together to remember their homeland to being forced to sing German songs and tortured if not to the Nazi soldiers' liking to attempting to cover up the sounds of heinous murders. Mosha was so desperate to avoid playing for the Commandant that she did the unthinkable at great risk. Russian "liberation" came and there were few survivors.

The story is harrowing, engrossing, gut churning and poignant. In my view characters were not always convincing. I got a sense of the prisoners' terrible plight and grief but sometimes it wasn't powerful enough considering their extreme suffering. However, the story is memorable and moved me deeply, as Holocaust books always do.

My sincere thank you to Ad Lib Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this heart wrenching novel.

[Jen Juenke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an ok story.

Here is where I had issues, the camp is a concentration camp. Mosha sister is saved. She must become a prostitute.

Josef punishes Mosha by withholding food. For the entire women's camp.Still she does not play. THEY ARE STARVING! I understand principles, I understand morals, but my goodness, people are starving because Mosha refuses to play a song....unbelievable.

The end was so abrupt I had no idea what was going on. Mosha is just in Josef's hut and then Russians walk in and shot him. How against the odds are that? No one, not one guard came to warn Josef that the Russians were coming?

I said, ok, I will read the epilogue, because I was confused if this was a true story or not. Not one mention of what happened to this "mosha gebert" after the war or anything. It talked about the concentration camps, but not what happened after.

I guess for me, I need more clarification that this was an actual HISTORY/NON FICTION book. It seemed too contrived, too above morals to be anything but a flight of fantasy from the author.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im struggling to choose between 3 and 4 stars to give this book. I think in the end I’m going to go down the middle and give it a 3.5 star rating.
It was an easy to read writing style, which I liked. I’m just struggling with the main character a little bit. I mean it’s one thing to refuse to play the piano when it’s just you suffering for it, but when all the women start suffering for your choice, and yet you still won’t play the piano? I don’t understand that. I also don’t understand how a lot of the women are just accepting of the fact that they are being starved of what little food they have each day because another woman won’t simply play the piano. And when they do get food the mc wants it sent back? Come on now.
If it was me in that situation and i was that desperate I would be tearing her to shreds by now for putting her pride above mine and every other woman’s life.

But other than that I liked this book. I read it in 2 sittings. Would I read it again? I’m unsure about that.

[Carol Fordahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on a true story Mosha Gebert is an accomplished pianist at a young age. She plays at sold out performances where budding Nazi officers attend, including her future Commandant, Josef Hanke. He’d fallen in love with her and her passionate rendition of “Ode to Joy.” When he spots her and recognises her as the pianist he saw years earlier, he asks her to play for him. She refuses to play “in this awful place.” He employs unimaginable ways to make her relent, including shooting all of the male prisoners in front of her who secretly give food to her and her group after Hanke has ordered them to receive no meals for days. The full spectrum of Nazi barbarism and evil is on display in this book. Be prepared.

[Snowfreak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read MANY of these concentration camp books and although this one is fiction based on a real person, I feel it lacked the feeling of utter desperation the prisoners felt. Surely if you could help get food so that others survive then you would do whatever it took. I felt Mosha was a very entitled character and as such I couldn't like her. Breaking her fingers by choice? Really? The last scene dragging a piano out of the door on the day the Russians first entered the camp? Well I don't think that would have been a priority. Yes I know it's fiction but bring a little realism in. If you're going to write a book in this kind of setting don't powder puff it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wasn't sure how many stars to give this book. In one way i was interested in the story and finished the book within 3 days. However i found it hard to like the main character 'Mosha'. She put 'not playing the piano' over her campmates who went hungry because of her decision. I get that she was attached to music and it was her life, but surely in these circumstances you do what it takes.

[Caitlin Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think i’ve read a book like this before that at first i hated, then i couldn’t, no i refused to put down, to one that made me bawl. It was an experience one that i doubt will be forgotten.

[Nigel Herring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, open my eyes more of what happened in the camps, I couldn't put down once I got into the book, read over three quarters of the book in a few hours

[Debbie Cote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book and totally worth reading. I read it in 2 days.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a pianist and musician, I was initially intrigued by thIs story of how music played a part in surviving one of life's most horrendous events. I am also drawn to stories based upon real life events and people but this one was rough!

It is really difficult to find things I like in a story that is filled with so much violence, hatred and evil but I was interested to learn about the role music played in allowing the women to maintain a sense of rebellion and comraederie. From teaching music in camp to forming a choir, music gave them hope and helped maintain their sanity.
Music was also used to drown out the unthinkable and factored into the very creepy obsession one son had with his mother.
The author's notes both at the beginning and end are very important; without them I would not have been able to keep reading. I had to know there was some truth to the story!

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this one in exchange for my honest thoughts!