As there are now fewer and fewer survivors alive to give their account, it is unsurprising attention is now shifting to the children of those who have now passed away. This is one such example and has been written by the son of a woman who survived because she was part of an orchestra in the concentration camps.

Elsa found relationships difficult and was emotionally detached from her son. Following her death, he decided to track down others who were in the same situation, those who survived by being part of this bizarre orchestra and who remember his mother. (although not all do.)

Through this, he is able to build a picture of his mother. To construct her narrative that was always hidden from him during her lifetime and to find a way to lead to his understanding of her.

This is a book that is well worth reading

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

an insightful read that leaves you at times cold...when you realise the implications of what some of the people on those death camps had to do to survive....

if you are interested in this type of book its well worth a read

1943

Elsa is taken to Auschwitz and survives because she played an instrument and was able to join the women's orchestra. She never told her family, her son found out later and worked hard to unearth his mother's history, to learn more about his mother who he had a difficult relationship with.

Contemporary Day

Determined to learn more about her life "Before" he sets out to meet and interview the other orchestra musicians. His quest will take him to many countries where he learns more about the women and his mother.

I know this was a labor of love and had great personal meaning to the author and I hope this brought him peace. I love that he names all the women who were in the orchestra in the Author's note. This is a great story which has also been told before in another book by the same title. That book was a five-star read for me. This one told the story of the same women, but the writing/storytelling did not work for me. Plus, I could not help to compare it to the other book by the same title.

A harrowing and worthwhile story about the women's orchestra in Auschwitz and one man's attempt to learn more about his mother's secret past.

Others enjoyed this more than I did, please seek out their reviews as well. It was hard for me to get past the way the book was written.

Thank you to Penn & Sword and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Interesting book and allowed me to learn even more about Auschwitz, what people had to suffer through when imprisoned in the camps and how the survivors reflect on their experiences.

Obviously due to the subject of the book it`s an emotional and hard hitting read but worth reading.

The only negative I have is that I got confused as to who was who at times due to the flicking back and forth between time frames and how many women were spoken about.

So glad I read this though to learn more about Auschwitz and the survivors.

The Violinist of Auschwitz
by Jean-Jacques Felstein
Pub Date 30 Nov 2021
Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History
Biographies & Memoirs | History | Nonfiction (Adult)





I am reviewing a copy of The Violinist of Auschwitz through Pen and Sword History and Netgalley:





Elsa was arrested in 1943 and deported to Auschwitz, Elsa survived because she joined the women's orchestra. But Elsa kept her story a secret, even from her own family. Indeed, her son would only discover what had happened to his mother many years later, after gradually unearthing her unbelievable story following her premature death, without ever having revealed her secret to anyone.






Jean-Jacques Felstein was determined to reconstruct Elsa's life in Birkenau, and would go in search of other orchestra survivors in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Israel and the United States. In reconstructing his Mother’s life in Auschwitz the recollections of Hélène, first violin, Violette, third violin, Anita, a cellist, and other musicians, allowed him to rediscover his 20-year-old mother, lost in the heart of hell.




The story unfolds in two intersecting stages: one, contemporary, is that of the investigation, the other is that of Auschwitz and its unimaginable daily life, as told by the musicians. They describe the recitals on which their very survival depended, the incessant rehearsals, the departure in the mornings for the forced labourers to the rhythm of the instruments, the Sunday concerts, and how Mengele pointed out the pieces in the repertoire he wished to listen to in between 'selections.



The Violinist of Auschwitz is a powerful true story of survival against all odds.



I give the Violinist of Auschwitz five out of five stars!

The cover first attracted me to this book, with its attractive violin, marred by the yellow star the Jewish were made to wear when the Nazis came into power giving a stark contrast for what the instrument is used for making beautiful music. When you really think about it in really simplistic terms the violin epitomises love whereas the yellow star really does symbolise hate.

The book begins with quite a long prologue by the author Jean-Jacques Felstein about his at time problematic relationship with his mother Elsa. Jean-Jacques explains he always felt a distance between them. The very fact that his mothers “before”, her history and what she went through during the Holocaust and her time in Auschwitz-Birkenau was never mentioned to him at all. As a child he grew up knowing not to mention it. His parents were divorced meaning it was rather like he had two lives, the one when he was with his father and then the one, he had when he was with his mother. Jean-Jacques describes seeing the numbers on his mother’s arm and knowing what they represented and that her memories of the tie around her having those numbers was not a good time for his mother to think about, never mind speak about. He also had the knowledge that sometimes a hug & kiss from him to his mother, could chase away her nightmares of her time at Auschwitz-Birkenau, if only for a little while. Jean-Jacques remembers talk of the family members that never made it through the journey his mother, Elsa did. Such as his Aunt Lydia, the one in the old photo’s whose old books he loved and read but was never talked in length about as she was from the time “before” the time in “Auschwitz-Birkenau”.

Unfortunately for Jean-Jacques all this mystery and the sense of tragedy about what had happened to his family, made him very insecure and he had awful nightmares where he searched for his parents in burning buildings and then when his parents separated, he was sent to a children’s home and that is where he first heard the truths and horrors about WW2. Jean-Jacques settled more when he realised, he could leave the children’s home to visit his parents. When visiting his mother, Jean-Jacques would see her in her cosmetic salon, Paris-Beaute in Cologne.

It was during school that Jean-Jacques learnt of the real horrors of the Holocaust. His headteacher read the final chapter of the book, The Last Just by Andre Schwartz-Bart, which told him about the true horrors of the men, women and children that were sent to and killed in gas chambers disguised as a shower room. One of his classmates would talk about “Chvitz” and Jean-Jacques began connecting all the little things he hard learnt, seen and perhaps overheard over the years and his nightmares flared again. The one time his mother Elsa ever really told him anything about the Holocaust was when she took him to see the film “The Diary Of Anne Frank”, she explained to him how Anne had almost died in Bergen-Belsen of Typhus, but that was all she ever told him about the awful time in her own history. The other sort of “nod to before” was when Elsa remarried and went on to have a daughter whom she called Lydia after the mysterious “Aunt Lydia” from the past.

It is after Elsa’s death that Jean-Jacques inherits part of her “pension compensation money” from the government and during an argument with his grandmother utters that her daughter had not rotted in Auschwitz for him to do whatever he felt like with that money! Jean-Jacques was 35 years old when he discovered his mother had been part of the Birkenau Orchestra. In fact, it was being selected for this Orchestra that saved her life, though she truly suffered throughout her imprisonment. Jean-Jacques sets about tracing the other women of the Orchestra and the book goes on to tell the story of the “present” where he is going to meet other survivors some remember his mother better than others but all share their own stories with him. The book goes back to the time “before” as the survivors reveal the daily horrors, humiliation and punishments they endured.

This may sound like the wrong thing to say but I hope you understand, I honestly enjoyed reading this book, despite it being about an horrific period in history. It is so well put together, Jean-Jacques goes to great lengths to explain his at points very distanced relationship with his mother Elsa who coped with what had happened to her and her family by not speaking about it. Different people deal with such gruesome histories in their own particular way, her were to leave it behind her, to not speak of it at all, yet she was so clearly deeply affected by it throughout her life, so much so it impacted her own son too. Its so sad that the way he learnt about the Holocaust was via his headteacher at school and a classmate.

I’ll be honest I had expected Jean-Jacques to just be telling his mothers story, which yes, he does learn about the day-to-day realities of his mother existence in Auschwitz-Birkenau but he also tells the stories of the other members of the Orchestra. The survivor’s individual stories, as well as the collective story of the Orchestra. The survivor’s before the Holocaust, how they ended up in Auschwitz, how they survived, who they lost and how they coped and recreated lives after when they had their freedom back.

My immediate thoughts upon finishing this book were that it was a very moving read. I feel it was as much about Jean-Jacques, his mother Elsa, and the other survivors as well as the ins and outs of how the Orchestra was formed and what those women were expected to do, all in equal parts.

Summing up, this book begins as a record of a rather fraught relationship between a boy, then man with his mother. A mother that had been through a horrible time whilst being held prisoner in Auschwitz-Bikenau. His mother Elsa is so traumatised even years and years later that she can never bring herself to speak to her son about what went on there. So, after his mother’s death, he sets himself the task of tracing and contacting the other women that played in the Birkenau Orchestra. Jean-Jacques travels to meet these other strong women who survived who are willing to tell him their own story, as well as what they remember about the Orchestra and his mother Elsa. If you are fascinated about this dark, era of history, then this book is a must read for you, it is so much more than a memoir.

Memoirs always break my heart and this was no different. I loved and devoured this within a few days. I just cannot believe what everyone had to go through during this horrific time. Everyone needs to read this.

My heart goes out to Jean-Jacques Felstein; I could literally feel his heart breaking as he researched the details of his mother's time as a violinist in the concentration camps. His mother wouldn't discuss this with him and after she passed away, he discovered these stories from behind the walls.

I've read many books about WWII and concentration camps, but I don't recall ever reading about orchestras. I found it interesting, but also heartbreaking. I'm glad that I read The Violinist of Auschwitz.

This is not historical fiction, it is as factful as the author could determine. History doesn't read the same way that historical fiction reads. I couldn't read this book straight through, I needed other books intermixed ... as this was too difficult to give my undivided attention.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author Jean-Jacques Felstein and the publisher Oen & Sword for the opportunity to read the advance read copy of The Violinist of Auschwitz. Publication date is Nov 30, 2021. Again ... my heart goes out to Jean-Jacques Felstein, thank you for writing.

This wa ssuch a beautifully raw and emotive read that will stay with me for a long time. The fact that Elsa kept her past to herself for so many years and it was only discovered by her son after her death just added an added depth of emotion to the book. It was so well written and brought me to tears on practically every page.
Through the recollections of other musicians from auschwitz that he found during his investigation he discovered who his mother was as a young woman and how she kept strong in the midst of the fires of hell.
A truly stunning book that everybody should read. I loved it.

Consistently aware of the remoteness between himself and his ever-distant mother, the author attempts to reconstruct what happened at Birkenau so that he can understand his mother better. Uniquely written, diary style, Felstein’s journey includes interviewing fellow members of the Birkenau Orchestra to which his mother belonged. Connecting with other orchestra survivors allowed the author to re-discover his mother and release the pain that had remained in his family for decades.

I can appreciate that the author chose his writing style to make the reader part of the experience. For me, it made it a difficult read. The unease is all on my part, though, as I was expecting something more than promised. It wasn’t the content I struggled with, it was the presentation.

I am completely aware that this must have been quite the cathartic experience for the author and I want to express my gratitude in publishing this account. I’m thankful for the opportunity to read this moving research and for the reminder that my horrified reaction is a good thing – for when people stop reacting to what happened in those camps, then we can’t call ourselves ‘human’ any longer.

Publishes November 30, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy by Jean-Jacques Felstein, Pen & Sword, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

The Violinist of Auschwitz is a poignant, dreadful, crushing, evocative and compelling true story about the author who is desperate for answers to deeply-engrained questions about his murky existence. His memories of his mother haunt him and he needs a "benchmark" of who she was. She did not tell him she was a prisoner at Auschwitz or why she had only a part of a violin. Perhaps if she had lived longer...

In 1997 Jean-Jacques Felstein's search took him to several countries to visit the few Women's Orchestra survivors to interview them as well as to concentration camps. The author narrates two timelines, WWII and 1997, and writes from his perspective to his mother, Elsa, as well as from hers to his. The writing, sentiments and insight are so gorgeous and so beautiful they often moved me to tears. And then the story itself. My words are inadequate but this book took my breath away, one of the most memorable books I have ever read.

Elsa joined the Women's Orchestra at Auschwitz in 1943. Though music was intended for the pleasure of Nazis, it saved lives by giving the women a purpose and alleviated their abuse for a few short hours. However, this tormented the other thousands in the camp and their jealousy caused problems for the musicians. Horrendous barbaric atrocities are not glossed over but told in great detail. They actually happened to human beings who barely existed in a constant state of torment. Several women were highlighted in the book as well as a list of orchestra members.

Little (but big) details stand out such as the unnecessary vase and rice pudding stories. I was not aware of the Russian violin method! The orchestra conductor and musicians mastered 150 songs and made a tremendous impact, even on Nazis. Such a juxtaposition of music and "the ramp" so near by.

The photographs are remarkably personal, especially the one of the author as a child waiting to leave for Cologne. At the end, the author writes about the women's lives after their experiences and connects them. He discovers women who knew his mother.

My sincerest thank you to Pen & Sword for the honour of reading this powerful and emotive book. My special appreciation and gratitude to the author who spent endless hours of research and interviewing so that he and others may know about the past .

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
WWII books are always fascinating and yet horrifying but always important so we can learn from history. This book was hard to follow but I'm not sure if it was the translation or not. The timeline wasn't clear and the stories tended to jump around and made it confusing.

'The Violinist of Auschwitz is both a biographical collection of narratives from women who were members of the Auschwitz Women's orchestra and a memoir reflecting Jean Jacques Felstein's efforts to learn more about his mother, Elsa, another one of the musicians.

More specifically the hurt, loneliness and desertion Mr. Feinstein experienced due to devastating decisions made by his mother during his childhood, led him to travel through Europe and Israel, interviewing other members of the Auschwitz orchestra, in hopes that he would be able to learn more and better understand his mother's choices after the war.. As such, the book. depicts his present day thoughts and feelings as he listens to and writes the narratives themselves.

Unfortunately, neither part of the story felt compelling. The personal memoir was devoid of emotion, at times overly self-impressed, and lacked any real thoughtful growth. The narratives, because they all came from women who had similar experiences felt rote and repetitive. As a result, this book seems to add very little to the literature that already exists about the Women`s Orchestra in Auschwitz.

The devastation of Felstein`s traumatic childhood also adds little to the already well known narratives of children. of holocaust survivors..His search to.understand and accept his mother, while indeed exhaustive, fell flat in the end, providing minimal witnessed growth by the reader despite the author's affirmations to the contrary.

A great disappointment.

A beautiful story.. I couldn't put this down! Beautiful writing kept me turning the pages! It is so heartbreaking what these people went through, and this story is a wonderful testament to their courage and grit.

Even though this book was hard to follow at times, I still enjoying despite the horrors, tragedy and violent events that took place. I loved the alternating POV in the timeline of how this memoir was told and glad the author shared this story. It is not easy reading but these stories deserve to be told when there is a glimmer of hope in hell on Earth.

Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jean-Jacque Felstein and Pen & Sword History for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 11/30/21

It is important to learn about the experiences of different people in a historical event to gain a better understanding of the complexities involved. The content itself is fascinating, but the execution could have been better.

I had read a previous book also dealing with a musician playing in one of the camps during WW2. It would have been hard to play in the cold. For me this book was a little hard to read, not really the subject matter but how it was written. I’m sure it will appeal to many historical fiction fans .
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

The story of a camp violinist and her subsequent years following liberation, The Violinist of Auschwitz is told by the violinist’s son. He details the time of the orchestra’s presence in camp while trying to understand his mother’s distanced relationship with him. He interviews several orchestra members, detailing the remaining effects of camp life on each one.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is a voyage of discovery for the author about a mother he was distanced from

An engrossing, at time, difficult read but so worthy a read

Did you know that, in the depths of the hell that was Auschwitz, there were orchestras complete with a conductor and professional musicians? Just imagine that, having to go perform backbreaking labour with the constant threat of beatings, a shot, or being sent to the gas chambers, all the while you hear classical music playing as your work detachment goes out, or when the trains arrive with new prisoners, or when the SS officers were in the mood, and so on.

The one the book deals with is the Auschwitz-Birkenau Women's Camp Orchestra, an all-girls ensemble led by an also female conductor, which at some point was conducted by Alma Rosé, the famous violinist and niece to composer Gustav Mahler. The musicians of this orchestra played a variety of instruments, from mandolin to violin and piano, and were of varied backgrounds, some Jewish and some non-Jews, all with a talent for playing a certain instrument or several. One of these musicians was Elsa Miller, the violinist from the title and mother of the author, a Jew from Germany deported to the concentration camp and selected for the orchestra there. She never spoke about her time in Auschwitz, and due to divorce, was absent from her son's life. So absent he didn't know she was a Holocaust survivor until fifteen years after her death, when he was already 35 years old.

Noticing the dissonance between the reverential way his mother's family talked of her and his own embittered view of her due to her coldness and distance, Jean-Jacques Felstein found out from a relative that his mother had been in a concentration camp, and decided to embark on a mission to unearth the details of Elsa's experience as a violinist in Auschwitz by looking for other survivors of the women's orchestra still living. Two other violinists in special, Hélène and Violette, French Jews both, are his first sources and help him discover surprising facts about his mother's hitherto unknown life, and he also finds about some of the other women that shared her fate.

Through Felstein's eyes, we are treated to his journey of discovery, which he presents as a letter to his mother in first person narration. This style puts us in the author's shoes, but is also very difficult to get used to, because he tends to wander around a bit and digressions pop up here and there. The timeline is also hard to get used to, as there's jumps back and forth in time; and he also tends to insert his thoughts and emotions randomly in the middle of narrating an episode from his mother's or another survivor's story. This, the introspective writing and the weird presentation don't contribute to a smooth flow of the story. Besides, at times, the author comes off as self-absorbed because he seems to be more interested in telling the reader about his feelings about a given thing than in telling about the sufferings of his mother and the other ladies at the death camp, and their feelings. There's as much about him as about his mother, sometimes even more, and I'm not sure that readers would be that interested in his own reactions to the tragic story of his mother as they would be in her mother and her fellow musicians. After all, it's the women who survived thanks to music, even if only temporarily for a lot of them, who are the interesting ones with an interesting and sad life story, not the other way round.