Memorial concert honors Holocaust survivors

Those who attended the Holocaust memorial concert in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center likely experienced a real-life example of how the power of memory and music are interconnected.

Bloomington Holocaust survivors and their children illustrated the power of memory through a silent candle ceremony and memorial prayer, in which each survivor and his or her child lit a candle in memory of the tragedies they all overcame.

The way the candle ceremony was carried out by the survivors and those to come after them is in the vein of the Polish-based Children of the Holocaust mission, which serves to aid the older Righteous Gentiles who saved them from death years ago.

The donations raised during the concert will go to benefit the remaining Righteous Gentiles, who now live under harsh conditions in Europe.

The concert itself honored the musical legacy of Polish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, who survived the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II when the Nazi regime killed millions of Jews and non-Jews.

“His music captures the reality of the Warsaw ghetto through infinite shadows of gray,” said associate professor of musicology Halina Goldberg, who also organized and narrated the event.

The first set consisted of three songs composed by Szpilman and performed by Junghwa Moon Auer on piano while graduate student Brian Arreola sang tenor.

The second set featured the work of composer Fryderyk Chopin, played on piano by piano music professor Edward Auer.

Goldberg said Chopin’s work influences a meaningful connection to World War II.
In between each set of music, Goldberg’s narration painted a picture of Szpilman’s times in World War II’s war-torn Warsaw Ghetto, where he struggled to survive.

“While in hiding, music gave him hope and sanity,” Goldberg said.

She discussed how not only Szpilman’s musical legacy, but also his personal memoir, which was once banned in Europe because of its “excruciating candor,” affected her personally.

Goldberg said she grew up in Poland and her parents survived the Holocaust. She said though she grew up around Szpilman’s music, which is popular in Poland, she didn’t know the person behind the music.

She said the most astonishing thing about Szpilman’s memoir was the presentation of the Holocaust through sounds.

“You could practically hear as you read, people dying, the sounds of the Warsaw Ghetto at night, the sounds of suffering,” Goldberg said.

The concert ended with a live recording of the song that saved Szpilman’s life. When a Nazi officer told him to play a song, he played “Nocturne in C Sharp Minor Op.,” a posthumous composition by Chopin.

Graduate student Kristen Strandberg said she had never been to a Jewish service but appreciated how the themes of memory and sound were connected.

“It was really great to see someone like Halina, whom I know, approach this from such a personal level,” she said.

Iris Yob, a Bloomington resident, said she thought the concert was beautifully put together. She said she learned a lot even though she is not Jewish and the memories
presented may not directly affect her.

“It was moving how there was a combination of stories from Halina, candles, rituals and memory,” she said. “I certainly feel like I want to be part of his memory.”