The Violinist of Auschwitz

by Ellie Midwood

A world, in which a place like Auschwitz didn’t have the moral right to exist.

the women swaying slightly in time with the music, each immersed in her own world where beauty once again had its meaning, where lovers twirled them in their arms to a Viennese waltz, where their loved ones still lived, despite all, for music is eternal and so are the memories.

With the power of her music, she made these women free for a few precious moments.

Hatred aged them just as fast as suffering aged their victims. Alma thought it to be a form of poetic justice.

We all had to unlearn how to mourn our people if we wanted to survive.

But still, this was the right thing to do; she felt it deeply inside, and the right thing was always worthy of risking one’s life for.

The camp was a ruthless teacher. There were only two choices—to adapt or to perish.

“When you have nothing to begin with, there’s little they can take away from you,”

Any music was produced out of love, never out of hatred or cruelty. That’s why there was no new culture born out of Hitler’s new Germany.

As long as she could feel, all was not lost.

“I’m giving it all because giving is what makes a human human. As long as I can give something, I feel I haven’t spent that day for nothing.

Love was a cruel mistress; it tormented its victims more often than not.

Everything is achievable if only one applies their all.”

“I will always love you for the both of us.

Beauty was indestructible. It was the most powerful force on earth and would always be.

Grief and fear were selfish emotions; there simply was no way around it.

When someone dies, it’s always much more difficult for their loved ones. The person who is about to die, they know that their suffering is about to end and they’re at peace. It’s the loved ones who have to live with that loss, with that unspeakable tragedy in their hearts for a long time after.”