Holocaust Memorial Day

The Last Musician of Auschwitz: musical solace amid the horror

Auschwitz was a death factory where more than a million ­people, mostly ­Jewish, were murdered. As one survivor says of the Nazis’ evil efficiency in a new feature-length documentary to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation on 27 January 1945: “Satan would have been envious.”

Yet, incredibly, amid the terror there was music. It was performed and even composed in the camp, and for a fortunate few this enabled their survival. Music was a lifeline and a way of resisting.

The Last Musician of Auschwitz Q&A with director Toby Trackman

Marking 2025's Holocaust Memorial Day, The Last Musician of Auschwitz tells the extraordinary story of cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the only surviving member of the Women’s Orchestra at Auschwitz. The film also brings to life the testimony of other inmates who performed and wrote music at the concentration camp, while weaving in a series of powerful new performances of their compositions.

This Q&A followed a premiere at the British Museum, and saw BBC Arts Commissioner Suzy Klein interview Director Toby Trackman about the making of the film.