Beethoven in Auschwitz
L. V. Beethoven - Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in F major, Op. 50 Renaud Capuçon, violin Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Masur Last Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent, I came across a beautifully-written article on The Catholic Thing with the title Juliek and His Violin , written by Elizabeth A. Mitchell. The article begins this way: Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel recounts this exchange in his Auschwitz memoir, Night : I . . .I’m afraid . . .They’ll break. . .my violin . . . I . . . I brought it with me. I thought he’d lost his mind . His violin? Here? It’s an expression of incredulity at the seemingly inane focus of his young friend Juliek on a violin amidst shockingly inhumane conditions. For days, the inmates had been force-marched in an evacuation to Gleiwitz, a sub-camp of Auschwitz, and now, crammed together in a barracks, bodies are crushing atop another. Death is imminen...